Falling To Pieces
by CoTA-RPG
Summary: The X-Men are thought to be dead and it's up to a select few to find them. Random hook ups! Adventure! Excitement! Alternate Universe. Chapter 5 up!
1. Chapter 1

X-Men Evolution is a trademarked product from Marvel, all the characters are owned by Marvel and not us. This is a work of fiction based off of said series. We make no money off this, nor do we intend to. 

Because of when we were writing this, it was before the last season had aired. In fact, a lot of episodes hadn't finished airing at this point - so continuity wise it starts off after Impact. The whole Apocolypse thing? Kinda went away or never happened.... lalala. So this would be alternate universe, after the actions in "Impact". Started October 9th, 2003. Please see profile for more info. 

Chapter 1: Schism 

--- 

--- Introduction --- 

The X-Men: heroes. Men of renown. Saviors to an ungrateful world, they have been called many things over the years but now they're being called... dead??!?!?!?! 

The X-Men, the Brotherhood Of Mutants, the Acolytes, and the Morlocks have suddenly vanished off the face of the Earth leaving behind only few members to gather up the pieces--these members, all vastly different must join together to save their friends before it's too late! 

--- 

Rogue wrapped her arms around herself as she awoke to a cold chill. Her green eyes flicker open, her lips part taking in a deep morning breathe. Sitting up, she rubbed the sleep gunk from her eyes. Gasped as she found she isn't in her bedroom, but in a cave? A dark, damp cave. 

Her breath haltered as she rubbed her bare arms for warmth. Bare?! A moment of surprise as she looked down at her once long sleeved pajama top. She whimpered as her sleeves were ripped right off and her gloves also gone. 

"H-h-hello? Any of y'all there?" Rogue wondered out loud. 

Shadows scamper against the wall of the cave. Her teeth chattered. Body shook. 

"Hello?! Oh god? This has to be a nightmare." 

Her eyes moved onto a figure on the ground near to her, making out it's form as that of Kitty Pryde, her room mate. Seemingly unconscious. Rogue fell to her knees and crawled over to Kitty, shaking her violently, 

"Kitty! Wake up! Wake--" Her voice trailed off as another figure came into view, that of a less friendlier sight as it was the one and most certainly only Scarlet Witch. Also unconscious. "Err? Wanda?! Kitty! Ya'll wake up now, ya hear?" Rogue continued to shake Kitty desperately awaiting another sign of life. 

--- 

The barking sound of someone off in the distance caused the Scarlet Witch to stir in her sleep. Slowly blinking only one eye open, all she could see was the vast amount of darkness that surrounded her. She quickly shut her eyes closed again, for they were too heavy to keep open. She was so tired, and her body was sore. 

But there was that voice again. Why couldn't she ever sleep in peace? 

"Toad, go away." She whined. Her voice was nothing but a soft murmur, she doubted he would even hear her. _'Like he'd listen'_ she thought. 

Wanda managed to curl herself into a smaller ball as she tried to drift back off to sleep, absently reaching for a blanket that wasn't there, she was so cold. It was never this cold in the Brotherhood house. Lance must have forgotten to pay the heating bill, again. Now she wouldn't be able to get enough sleep. She was nothing less then extremely grumpy in the morning when she didn't get plenty of sleep. 

She then thought she heard something again and this time she forced her eyes to fully open. There, not more then a few feet away was a figure she vaguely recognized in the dim light... 

--- 

Kitty mumbled at the slight disturbance to her sleep. "C'mon, just five more minutes." She struggled half-heartedly in return to Rogue's shaking. She rubbed her arms and blinked. "Gyah, you like, didn't have to take my blanket. I totally get the hint." Kitty had the sudden realization that she's certainly not in Kansas anymore. She looked at her pajamas, then glanced at the other two girls with half-closed eyes. 

"Whoahohoho. Uh... mornin' Rogue." She paused, then changed her tone. "Wanda..." She looked nervous, "Gawd, so like... uh... what'd I sleep through?" Kitty yawned, "Is this some kind of practical joke? Bobby is such a dweeb sometimes." 

--- 

Callisto awoke to an unfamiliar dry chill. Of course, being accustomed to more of a rancid humidity, this sent shocks through her body. Her hyper sensitivity made her especially intune to her new surroundings. Around her, the whole world moved. The footsteps of a spider spinning its web pounded in her ears. She felt the heat of the other bodies around her, some awake, some sleeping. 

Where was she? 

She gazed at the girls, who had yet to spot her. Her night vision made them practically glow. She cringed at what the daylight would do to her frail senses. 

One of the girls... looked familiar. Well, actually, so did the little brunette. The third girl was a mystery to her, but she could tell a mutant when she saw one. 

Callisto grabbed her jacket ( her makeshift pillow) and put it on. Her small collection of crude knives rested safely in the middle of the bundle. She silently assembled herself, before contemplating her next move. 

Finally, convinced she could defend herself, she stepped out of the darkness, and in a low growl, she asked, "Where the #! am I?" 

--- 

Now Wanda knew that she wasn't in the Brotherhood house any more. 

It took a few moments for her eyes to finally adjust to the poor and pathetic lighting in this dark and damp.. .whatever it was she was in. From what little she saw she knew it was, well, dark and damp - almost like a cave. A really gross and smelly one at that. The scent kind of reminded her of how Toad smelled after he finally took a shower. The smell was still there, only difference was he was wet. 

A few feet away she could make out two figures, one she knew was Rogue and the other was the girl that could walk through walls. The one Lance always had a thing for, her name was on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't quite remember it. Cathy, Kathryn, Cat, Kit, Kitty. That was it. 

But there were others out there too, she could feel there power around her, but it was faint. Very faint. And someone else was awake now, but for now Wanda decided to play possum, though it wasn't really her style. 

Her style would have been to jump up and hex them all until she got answers, but she knew that wouldn't work in this case, she was still sore and still tired. She wanted answers, but she knew she would have to wait. And she hated waiting. 

--- 

Rogue gazed down at the awakening Kitty, letting out a sigh of relief. "Ah..." Rogue looked to Callisto, trying to recall the mutants familiarity. She was sure she recognized her from some where. Rogue looked to the quite unsettling sight of the seemingly unconscious Wanda. Her body vibrated as the quite vivid memories of the incident at the Bayville Mall when they first had met the Scarlet Witch. The X-men's secret weapon certainly didn't prevail that day... 

Rogue came to her feet, her knees shaking. 

"Now, calm down, sugah." Rogue breathed halter into rapid huffs as the realization of her situation finally began to sink in... she was in a cave, a dark, wet, cold cave... with one obviously pissed off mutant, the destructive daughter of the X-Men's greatest foe... her dumbfounded, half asleep team mate... and god knows who else. 

Kitty let her eyes adjust to the cave lighting. She squinted again. "That's a very good question. Like where... ARE... we?" She stood up and took in the surroundings. 

"Whoa, Rogue. You look like you're about to fall over." Kitty moved over to Rogue's side, carefully touching her friend on the back to support her (and making sure NOT to touch skin her bare skinned arms). She mused out loud, "This totally looks like a girls sleepover party gone horribly wrong. This does NOT look good. You okay, Rogue?" 

Rogue moaned softly, managing a weak, faint smile at Kitty "Ah'm all right." She rubbed at her arms, feeling uncomfortable, then looked to Callisto 

Callisto sniffed the air and dragged herself toward the cave entrance. She gazed into the near blinding sun as she tried to adjust to her surroundings. 

"Were somewhere atop Bayville. " She said, crouching at the mouth of the cave. She ran her hand on the ground, before pulling it back. 

"Sulfur." Callisto grumbled, wiping the hand on her pants. 

"Sulfur? Does that mean..." Rogue let out a faint gasp, "Kurt! Well that'd explain us all getting here." She looked to Wanda, and then back to Callisto. "'cept ya'll why would Kurt bamf you two here?" Her eyes shifted over to Kitty, "Why would he bamf us?" 

Rogue stumbled forward a bit, collapsing onto her knees by the seemingly sleeping Wanda, "Erm..." She looked back at Kitty, "Should we wake her or somethin? She'll freak out when she sees us here." Rogue bit down on her bottom lip, drawing a trickle of blood as she fought with herself whether to wake the sleeping menace, fearing how she'd react when she awoke. 

Kitty waved politely to Callisto, then made a face at Rogue's question. "Uh, Kurt? Well uh... he does play jokes, but he's not mean. Kurt wouldn't just drop us off somewhere, y'know? I mean, it's not like we're far from home or anything, right? Maybe I could phase through the mountain and see what's out there?" Kitty asked this, but didn't move to do it. She looked over at Wanda then said, "Yeah, wake her up and we'll all be doomed. Like maybe we should hold up little white surrender flags so she realizes we're totally not here to bring her harm or anything. Just an idea." 

--- 

A figure stepped carefully among the rocks as he slowly walked through the cave. Stopping to get his bearings, he held the palm of his right hand out, holding the candle-sized flame up to get the most light to spread through the chamber. 

The flame's light bounced off his torn orange nomex suit, the flame pack was gone, ripped off by something he couldn't remember, but luckily his faithful Zippo Sparky was always in his pocket. He wanted to make the flame bigger, to shed a little more light on the situation, but seeing as how he was in a cave with a limited supply of oxygen, he was hesitant. 

Sighing John looked back down at the flame as he continued to trek up through the cave. 

"This little light of mine..." He sang quietly to himself, "I'm gonna let it shine..." 

John stopped his whispered singing as he heard voices in the distance. Shielding the light with his other hand he crept forward as quietly as he could, finally reaching an outcropping where he took refuge. 

John peered around the corner, daylight stinging his eyes. There were three of them, no, four. Two of the X-Men, some lady he didn't recognize and... "Oh dear Lord..." John muttered, but quickly slapped a hand over his mouth and hid behind the outcropping. Wanda? The Boss's daughter? What was she doing here? What were they doing here? More importantly, what was he doing here??? 

Peeking back out around the rocks he could see the end of the tunnel. Sighing he let the small flame in his hand disperse, knowing that it would only draw unwanted attention. They were between him and the exit of the cave, so John decided to just hang low and see what he could discover. 

His stomach growled, and John just hoped they wouldn't hang around for long, apparently he missed breakfast. 

--- 

"Now were did dat homme go now? Trackin' him is harder den Gambit t'ought." 

Remy held the two of spades in his hand and he charged it with kinetic energy. He had lost sight of his red headed ally and since he didn't know Remy was there, he wasn't about to wait up for him. Remy was still confused at how he had gotten there but he knew that all he wanted was to find Pyro and get out. 

Remy moved to the side of the cave and laid a fingerless gloved hand on the moist rock. 

"Gambit could blow a hole t'rough dis but den de cave might collapse." He said thoughtfully to himself. "Perhaps jus' a little one t'see how t'ick de walls are?" 

Instead Gambit walked on hoping to find any sign of Pyro. When he doesn't, he decided to cause a small explosion. Pyro would probably hear that and come to him anyway. 

"Well, here goes not'ing." Remy charged the card a little more and threw it at the rocks. 

The sound of the small explosion echoed off the walls and traveled through the cave. Remy then moved away so that if anyone or anything did respond, he would be out of sight. 

--- 

Rogue let out a gasp as a loud rumbling sound echoed off of the cave walls, deserting Wanda and bolting to her feet, "Kitty, yeh stay here with Wanda." Rogue took off forward, arms still wrapped around her she ran toward the cave exit. She stopped as she met the end, the morning light shining brightly down on her. "Kitty! Yer right..." Her voice dropped to a whisper, "We're not far from home." Rogue gazed at the gazebo, where just weeks ago she pushed the stone form of her foster mother, Mystique, off. She wandered forward, unfolding her arms and greeting the suns warmth, letting out a shriek as she tripped forward over a round stone. 

Rogue let out a whine, sitting by the cliffs edge nursing the wound on her knee, "Well that was stupid." She muttered. "Note ta self, Ah don't do well without mah morning coff..." Her voice trailed off as a familiar scent tickled her nose, the distinct smell of smoke... who smoked? No sign of fire... so that must have meant someone was lighting up. 

Logan smoked... at least she thought he did... but who else? If it was Logan he would have already shown himself, and smelt them with his enhanced senses. 

Now the origin of the smoke was a little more clear, recognizing it's ghastly smell from that day at that abandoned warehouse when she had come face to face with that stupid cajun, the one who hypnotized her with those red eyes and made her let her guard down. 

...stupid cajun... 

Rogue cleared her throat, "BETTER GET OUT HERE, SWAMPRAT!! BEFORE AH GO AND FIND YEH!" 

Remy grinned as he watched the two-toned haired girl. He had seen her before. She had intrigued him. Not only was she an attractive girl but the challenge of her untouchable skin was irresistible to Remy. 

Remy stood from his hiding spot and quietly crept behind her till they were almost touching. 

"And what would ya do once y'found me?" Remy asked, his lips only inches from the Goths ear. 

Rogue gasped, turning to face to Cajun. She wrapped her arms around herself again gazing into those deep red eyes... snapping out of her trance, she backed away from Remy almost fearfully 

Remy grinned as Rogue gasped and turned around, wrapping her arms around herself. He mentally laughed in triumph as she simply maintained eye-contact for a couple seconds. She then seemed to snap back into reality and backed away from him. Remy was inclined to walk towards her at first but waited to see what she had to say. 

"Ah--Ah--Ah--" She tried to get a hold of herself, rubbing at her arms nervously, "Is this one of Magneto's tricks? What am Ah, and Kitty doing here? OR Wanda OR that other chick? What's going on, Cajun? Yeh better start explaining or AH may have ta get physical." For emphasis she held out her ungloved hand. 

Remy furrowed his brow in thought. "Mags didn' send me. Remy didn' even know dere was ot'ers here." Remy then glanced down at the hand she held out challenging though found it more seductive rather then challenging. He was curious to feel the deadly touch of the Rogue. 

Remy stepped forward closer to so her hand was nearly touching his neck, "An' Remy not afraid t'get physical chere." 

--- 

Kitty blinked as Rogue took off. "What do you mean, 'Watch Wanda'? She's like, not a TV show! I like to investigate strange noises too!" Kitty scrunched her face a little, moving over to the seemingly sleeping Wanda. 

Kitty pondered to herself, _'Yeah, anything better than here. You know, when she's sitting there all quiet and non-threatening, she doesn't seem all that intimidating. Shyah, just wait until she wakes up. I swear, I hope this doesn't turn into some stupid conflict over a non-issue.'_

She sat next to Wanda, pantomiming poking her, but never touching the young witches' body. Kitty glanced at Callisto and made a side comment. "So, what are YOU in for?" 

"Oh. Me? I'm a Morlock. Hypersensitivity. " Said Callisto, in regards to the brunette. 

The pulsing of another heartbeat penetrated Callisto's ear and her guard flared up. She fingered the brude switchblade on her wrist, and turned slightly toward the darkness of the cave. 

--- 

"Gambit?" John asked quietly to himself as the explosion echoed down into the cave. 

Carefully looking back around the corner he saw the Rogue girl running to the cave's entrance, leaving the other three behind. 

_'Wait a minute...'_ John thought. _'The explosion sounded like it came from the cave's entrance. That means Remy is up there, and since I'm down here.'_ John smiled. _'We got em surrounded.'_

John tried not to laugh aloud as he struck a flame from Sparky, pulling it into his hand and forming it into the size of a softball. It was all just too good. 

He checked around the corner on last time. The taller woman was still watching the entrance where Rogue had left through, and Shadowcat still kneeled over the fallen Wanda. 

John was about to jump around the corner, but a slip of his foot caused several rocks to tumble away, and echo loudly in the cave. 

"Crap..." 

The sound of a trip, of a fall, thudded in Callisto's system. She cringed and turned toward the direction it came from. 

Kitty rubbed her arms again, still a little chilled from the air. She let out a leftover yawn when the sound of rocks drew her attention away from Wanda and to the other corner of the cave. 

"What was that?! Another person?" She stood and moved toward the noise, still keeping half her attention on Wanda, "Who's there? Kurt? Come out!" 

The Brunette went to investigate the noise, calling it Kurt. Callisto reached out and grabbed the girls arm. "Stay still, child." she hissed, pushing past Kitty and standing between the brunette and the unidentified stranger. 

Kitty was about to step forward before Callisto told her to step off. She let out a bit of a 'tsk' noise to display her annoyance. Kitty rolled her eyes then looked to where Wanda was. 

He really did it this time. They had to know he was down here after that. The Shadowcat even identified him as 'Kurt', and unless he could turn blue, grow a tail, and pull off a good German accent in the next five seconds John was screwed. 

"Who in the # are you, and why in the hell are you stalking around in the darkness?" Callisto spoke. 

_'Yep, busted.'_ John thought. Well, no need in putting it off any further. John took a deep breath, The Shadowcat was no problem, and even though he didn't know what the older womans powers were, he was sure he could hold her off until Gambit got down there. 

"Here we go." John broke the ball of flame into two, one for each hand, and stepped around the corner. Two mutants were going to be a cakewalk. 

"Here I come Remy!" John yelled, hopefully alerting his teammate and preparing to light the place up, but he instantly regretted stepping around the corner. 

--- 

The thought to just open her eyes and scare them all was so tempting Wanda could feel it. But she didn't. They knew as much as she did. Nothing. 

But she was sick of lying here on the cold rocky ground. She was fed up with this, she was getting up. This was pointless. Next time she was going to go with her instincts. _'Hex first, ask questions later.'_ She thought as her eyes popped open. She saw the brunette valley girl right next to her. She was looking at someone. 

"Who's there? Kurt? Come out!" Kitty had said. 

With out a word she slowly rose, her stiff and sore muscles screaming out but she paid them no mind. The Scarlet Witch did not show weakness in front of anyone. She now stood fully tall and looked over to where Shadowcat was looking, the girl looked scared more then anything of her. That brought a smirk to Wanda's face. But when she saw who Kitty was looking at before made her blood boil, and deep scowl had replaced her small smirk. 

Wanda had gotten up... 

John had caught her off guard the last time they had met, but she would be dammed if she let the same thing happen again. Wanda and John never did get a chance to finish their fight on that bridge, she was holding back too. But this time she was going to finish it. 

Wanda prepared herself for battle, a small blue charge growing in her each of her hands, ready to strike at any given moment. "Leave him to me." Wanda said in a deadly tone, she knew that Kitty would listen to her, but this other girl, she believed she was an ally of Calliban, but she was not to sure about her just the same. "He's mine." She said as her piercing blue eyes flashed a shine pure rage and anger. This was going to be fun. She thought as she saw John stop dead in his tracks, her small smirk slowly returning to her face. 

John smiled hearing Wanda's words. _'So she does remember me.' _ He thought, flashing back to the attack on the bridge. 

The attack itself was nothing but a ruse, just bait, including the ski pass he had conveniently dropped to get Wanda to come to her father. In truth Magneto was more afraid of his vindictive daughter than he had been of Apocalypse. And why wouldn't he be, from what John had heard he figured Magneto deserved whatever Wanda would have given him. John briefly wondered where Magneto and the mind-altering mutant were, but pushed the thoughts out of his head as he had more pressing matters to attend to. 

In truth he was glad she remembered him. Who knew just how much of her memories Magneto had erased? 

What very little Wanda remembered that day, she remembered their fight. She remembered mainly him, him and his stupid laughing antics, it was almost as if she was being drawn into a trap. But there was a block there, everything else was blocked and hazy, and she just wished that kiss Toad had given her was just as hazy as the rest of her memories, but it wasn't. 

"Pleasure to see you again Sheila." John smiled, the flames growing larger around him as her blue hex bolts did around her. "It's been awhile." 

Sheila? Who the hell was he to call her Sheila? Oh she'd Sheila him, she'd hex him right to kingdom come. 

Kitty then turned to notice John appear with two flaming hands. Kitty made a face, "Great. This day is just totally turning out wonderful." She made her voice louder, "Hey Rogue, you shouldn't have woken me up!" 

Kitty gymnastically-tumbled over out of the pathway of the two energy wielding mutants. She started to move over toward the area where Rogue went, "I think this is a good time to check up on my team-mate..." Her pace a little faster than usual. 

Wanda glared at him, he looked like he was about to strike, and that Kitty girl had disappeared some where. Like she cared. 

He grunted, throwing a ball of flames at Wanda but it never hit. 

She sent her first hex bolt out, flying his flame right back at him... 

The Aussie smiled, forming a flaming tennis racket in his right hand. "Now serving, St. John Allerdyce." He called, cackling madly as he struck the ball back at Wanda. 

Instead of waiting around John ran to the side, where a group of rocks ran the length of the cave. Hopefully the returning ball would distract her long enough he could get along side and flank her. 

_'Where the hell are you Remy?'_ Even if the Shadowcat went up there, it shouldn't have taken him this long to deal with her and the Rogue. John slapped a hand to his head as he continued to scramble around Wanda. _'Of course. Rogue.'_ Gambit never really did put work before pleasure. 

_'What the hell was he doing?'_ Wanda thought. This was not tennis, this was a fight. A fight she intended to win. No mater what. 

Ready with the other hand Wanda flew her second Hex bolt out towards the ball of fire, but instead of firing it back at him she dissolved it in mid air. But when she looked back up to where he had been to fire another Hex bolt at him. He wasn't there. He was gone. 

--- 

Rogue drew her hand back, glaring at him, her body shaking with such fury. "Fine, if ya'll don't have anything ta do with it then Ah'm gonna go and find out who did but first..." She cleared her throat, pointing to his trench coat. "Off with your coat and give it to me" Rogue looked to his gloves, "And your gloves, Ah can't be walking around uncovered, or there will be an _unfortunate_ accident, get it darlin?" She paused as she called him 'Darlin', her cheeks reddened. 

Instead of touching him, the Rogue pulled her hand back. Remy couldn't help but slightly smirk at this. Remy grinned but obeyed her requests. He pulled off his fingerless gloves and pulled off his trench coat. He then whirled it around so it was over her shoulders and he was right next to her. He then held out his gloves to her. 

"As y'wish chere." 

Suddenly something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Further down in the cave it lit up orangish yellow. Obviously fire had made that light. 

"Merde!" Remy muttered. "Sorry chere, but Gambit t'inks his friend in trouble" 

Remy turned around and ran in the direction of the fire-lit part of the cave. 

Rogue gasped, before she could utter a word of thanks or goodbye he was off. Slowly she fit the coat around her, and twirled around. She blushed, "Damn... Ah feel like a little girl..." 

Rogue stopped and looked to the mouth of the cave and saw Kitty emerge, Rogue ran to her teammate who looked just a bit paler than normal. "What's up? What's going on..." Rogue then gasped, "Friend -- Remy --" Her voice trailed off "Kitty!" 

Rogue let the sleeves fall over her hands so she could pull them into her palm like gloves, quickly she grasped Kitty's hand in her own and ran into the cave to see what sight would greet her. 

Remy got the mouth of the cave where Wanda and some other chic were and looked back to see Rogue and Kitty trailing him. He immediately held his arms out to block them from going in. Wanda was trying to kill Pyro. She had just thrown a hex bolt but dissolved it at the last moment. 

Gambit didn't like the looks of the battle and he moved to the side of the cave unnoticed by everyone besides Rogue and Kitty. He placed a hand on the moist rock and with one quick exertion charged the whole area with kinetic energy. Only Kitty and Rogue were out of way of the rock if he exploded it. 

The cavern suddenly became completely lit red with his kinetic energy. 

"Okay, de fightin' stops now or Gambit'll blow de place up." He said, his eyes set and glowing, his facial expression hard and determined. 

Remy turned to look at the two-toned haired girl. "Chere, y'might want t'stand back." 

--- 

To be continued.. 

Authors Notes: 

This piece of fanfiction is a collection of several months of roleplay in a Yahoo Group based environment. Certain characters were handed to people to control the actions of, to tell their part of the story which sums up the overall feel of this. Over time we've had eight fantastic writers come in and direct the story one way or another, and it is my pleasure to have been (and still be) part of this ever growing story. We all started writing this story around October 9th, 2003. 

-- Characters/Authors -- 

Casakitten: Rogue   
Eixid: St. John "Pyro" Allerdyce   
Alice Storm: Callisto   
KiyoneKatz: Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde   
Sarah Crysala: Remy "Gambit" LeBeau   
Roguestar1: Wanda "Scarlet Witch" Maximoff 


	2. Chapter 2

X-Men Evolution is a trademarked product from Marvel, all the characters are owned by Marvel and not us. This is a work of fiction based off of said series. We make no money off this, nor do we intend to. 

Chapter 2 

--- 

Rogue stopped as Remy held out his arms to stop her and Kitty, speechless she watched as he moved to the side of the cave, certainly unnoticed by the others. As he sets a hand on a moist rock she tried to find the words to stop him or question him but nothing came. What, was he trying to kill them all? Upon further examination it wouldn't hurt Kitty or her. Just Wanda and that other chick... 

Then, suddenly the cavern lit with a reddish glow. 

"Okay, de fightin' stops now or Gambit'll blow de place up." He said, his eyes set and glowing, his facial expression hard and determined. 

Remy turns to Rogue, "Chere, y'might want t'stand back" 

Kitty was quiet, observing the events as they unfolded before her eyes. It was that strange mixture with the cold of the cave and the fire that reflected off the cavern walls from Pyro's antics. 

Rogue gasped, "There are other ways to stop a fight than threatening them!" Rogue looked back at Kitty, smiled nervously. "Uh... better phase to be safe." 

Kitty nodded, and was about to trigger her power. Then her team-mate let go of her hand. 

"Ot'er ways p'tite? Tell dat t'Wanda!" Remy said, knowing that the Scarlet Witch had a bad temper and that nearly nothing could stop her when she was upset. He noticed too though that if he did blow the place up not only would Wanda and the other chic be killed, but he himself and Pyro would too. Pyro was hard to get to stop during a fight too, but Remy knew that this way would be most effective. Gambit shook his head. "Non, dis stops now or Gambit'll do it." He said, this time turning to glare at Wanda and Pyro. 

Rogue gripped onto Remy's shirt and shut her eyes tightly, just waiting for something to blow up and kill them all. 

--- 

He was gone. Wanda shouldn't have gotten rid of that damn flame, it was her only source of light. How stupid could she be? She shouldn't make errors like that in a key battle. Wanda scolded herself. 

Wanda looked about frantically, trying to find him but saw nothing but the darkness. His stupidly bright torn up orange and red suit should have been an easy target to spot. _'What I'd kill for a light.'_ Wanda thought bitterly. 

As if on cue the entire cave began to glow an exotic pink color. _'Where was this coming from?'_ she thought. This wasn't that guy's power, was it? She didn't even know the stupid redhead's name and she hated him. That had to be a record for her. 

"Okay, de fightin' stops now or Gambit'll blow de place up." 

Wanda turned her head around quickly to see where the voice was coming from, and low and behold who was standing right there... 

John jumped out from behind the rock he was hiding behind, which happened to be the very same rock Remy had chosen to charge. 

"Bout Bloody time you showed up mate!" John looked over at Remy, who kept his hands plastered to the glowing rock. 

John, now exposed out in the open before Wanda and the others, kept the flames burning brightly in his hands. Wanda made no move to power down, the blue aura still flowing around her. 

Both the Witch and the Flame Thrower made not a single move to lower their attacks, John with his flames, Wanda with her hex bolts. Rogue groaned, muttering, "Why was Ah stuck with this stupid power can't do nothing from far away... stupid..." 

"Tell here to put hers down first." John tossed the fireballs up and caught them quickly for emphasis. No way he was snuffing out when she was still ready to hex him the second he let his guard down. 

So there was the little bugger. "You first." Wanda told him, glaring at him as best she could. There was no way she was letting her guard down when the other one could still blow her up. Not a snow balls chance in Hell was she going to. 

John smiled as he watched Wanda stand firm, this was going to be fun. "Asked you first Sheila." 

Remy growled and suddenly an area of the ceiling explodes and a few rocks come tumbling harmlessly down. "Dat was a warnin' bot' you quite it now or Gambit finish d'job!" He said threateningly 

His eyes glowed a little more fierce. "John, drop de fire. Gambit'll do it and yo o' all people should know dat." He said with all honesty. 

Rogue nodded, pleading with the two of them with her eyes to just put down their weapons. She looked to Callisto whom seems to be just watching with interest, not saying a thing or caring enough to plead. 

Wanda watched with little amusement and a growing temper. What was he doing? Interrupting there fight like that? "Stay out of this!" Wanda growled, glaring at Gambit. She raised her fists up a bit, the charge seemed to grow brighter, and stronger. 

Rogue let out a growl, releasing her hold on the Cajun. 

Wanda gave a small smile as she returned her attention to the redhead, it was more of a grim smirk but hey, who was paying attention? This reminded her of when she and Pietro would argue like this. And she knew just what to say. 

"You asked him to tell me." She nodded to Gambit, whom had yet to release his charge on the rock. "But you never asked me. So technically I asked _you_ first." Wanda just loved the way her twisted mind worked. 

John's face twisted in thought. 

"But... I mean..." He took a deep breath to calm himself, and actually felt his temperature go down a degree or two, despite the flames in his hands. He needed to take his time and form a logical argument. 

Rogue rolled her eyes, "Ah swear..." 

"Did not!" John barked. 

"Did so!" Wanda shot back before she knew what was coming out of her mouth. 

"Honestly! Yeh'd think ya'll were children! How about yeh do it at the same time? So Swamprat won't blow up any more and then we can all get out of this stupid cave and go our separate ways!" Rogue marched forward taking a stance between the two, crossing her arms, _'Calm yerself Rogue, it's just like separating Bobby and Jamie when their fighting for the last breakfast bar... they won't fight with you in the middle...'_ Rogue thought, as another voice piped up inside of her _'...you're talking about two of your greatest and most powerful foes! What's stopping them? YOU?' _Rogue smacked her head with the palm of her hand, _'Idiot...'_

John watched Rogue walk between him and Wanda. No way was he going to let her talk to him like a kid. John stamped his foot and pointed behind Rogue to Wanda. "But she started it!" 

Why was he pointing at her? Wanda thought for a moment. Wanda's mouth slightly opened. How dare he pin this on her. Her temper flared, and her Hex bolts mirrored her temper. 

Rogue let out another moan, "Doesn't matter who started it, ever heard that ending is makes you the better person? Huh? Did ya?" 

Wanda gritted her teeth, and tried to do what Fred had told her to do when she was mad. Count to ten. One, two... 

"If one of yeh tries ta hurt the other one Ah'll jump in the way, all right?" Rogue groaned as she realized what she just offered. Logan would shoot her. 

Ten... Fred never was that bright anyway. "No! Not all right! I'm sick of all these stupid interruptions." Wanda's powers and temper flared, and her eyes became enraged. 

Rogue looked to Wanda, almost fearfully as Wanda was obviously more infuriated with the Aussie and her. 

"Now let me kill him already! Or at least beat him up a bit!" She shouted as she prepared to fire a Hex bolt at John. 

As Wanda prepped a hex bolt, Rogue smacked her hands against her face, rubbing at her temples _'Great, this is really good in the morning'_

"Move, or I'll move you myself." She threatened to Rogue, bringing her brightly glowing blue charged hands up, hovering them slightly above Rogue. 

Rogue thought on this, _'If Ah did move, maybe they'd finish each other off?'_ growled the little Logan present in the depths of her mind _'No!'_ cried the little Xavier _'Peace is always the way to go! Stand your ground!'_

Rogue moaned, "Listen You!" She shouted at Wanda. "Can't you settle this another time when were not in a cold freakin cave?" Realizing her reason probably didn't even reach the Witch's ears, she looked to Remy, though probably not the best to dish out advice she threw up her arms in defeat. 

For a moment Wanda thought that the other Goth was going to stand up to her maybe even fight her, and in her eyes she saw that took guts. But in the Pyromaniacs case it was just pure stupidity. But then Rogue said... 

"A little help here Swamprat?" Rogue glanced nervously at Wanda, then at John, then back to Remy. 

With those words Rogue lost what little respect she had just earned from Wanda by just saying that. But it was gone now and Rogue was going to ask the pathetic Cajun for help. _'Like that was going to do any good'_, Wanda thought bitterly. She brought her arms down folding them over her chest, partly because she was cold, all she had on was a black tank top. Once Rogue had stopped looking at her she relaxed a bit. Though one thing still bugged her, and she couldn't let it go to save her life. She side stepped around Rogue towards John while Rogue was paying attention to Gambit and not her and the misfit. 

Quietly Wanda said to the redhead, "How could you say that I started it, when it was clearly you that started it?" 

Kitty smacked her own forehead, mentally calling Rogue stupid. She decided to act quick and try to bum rush Wanda amidst Rogue's mild distraction. 

If John had decided to answer her, or even if he had mumbled something for an answer Wanda didn't even hear it. She had said it to just push his buttons, for some reason she felt like a little kid again when she argued with him. '_Maybe because he acted like such a little kid'_. She thought. Wanda sighed, and turned her attention back to Rogue. It was weird, not having people pay attention to her. At the Brother Hood house she was always being followed, someone was always paying attention to her, and believe it or not she missed it. 

Again she sighed, but the sound of someone other then who she saw at the moment walking about the cave shook her head clear of memory lane and back to the present. Wanda turned her head up at the sight of Kitty, _'Now what was she doing?'_ Wanda had almost forgotten about her. Almost, she wasn't that careless, not again. Was she actually going to attack her? Wanda thought as the girl came towards her. 

Remy saw that the young brunette teen was about to attack Wanda, that Wanda was moving once again toward Pyro. Only one thing made him hesitate. 

The thought that the pint size kitten was going to try and attack Wanda was a baffling thing for the power house known as the Scarlet Witch. It amazed her more then anything, what was she going to do phase through her? Like that would work. 

John was watching Wanda, waiting to see her reaction when the charging brunette got closer when... 

"Rogue." Remy muttered. Remy's brows furrowed in determination. "Enough!" 

_'Him again.'_ Wanda thought bitterly. 

John turned to Remy, but not before the cave began shaking. "Are you Crazy!" John yelled at Remy when he noticed the kinetic energy filling the cave. 

Just then the ground beneath her feet began to shake, and the Shadowcat had stopped coming towards Wanda. What was going on? 

Suddenly everything begins to explode. The roof off the cave, and the side walls. The instant it began though Remy ran to Rogue, knocking her over and attempting to shield her as the mountains of rock debris began falling in on them. 

Rocks began to fall from the ceiling as she charge traveled up the walls and across the roof of the cave. At first it was small rocks, leading to large ones, until finally a human sized boulder crashed right next to John. 

The flames in his hands disappeared as he danced and twisted to avoid being squashed. Looking up to the roof of the cave to judge the oncoming projectiles, Johns eyes somehow connected with a basketball sized rock as it broke lose from the ceiling. 

Wanda was still facing Shadowcat, oblivious to the rock descending above her. For some reason unknown to him, Pyro began to run. 

Kitty was about to tackle Wanda, then the roof started to crumble around her and just about everyone. She hesitated. 

_'What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing?'_ John thought as he scrambled through the falling rocks. The Shadowcat had it easy, just phase and let the rocks pass through her, but the unsuspecting Wanda... His thoughts trailed off as he watched the rocks plummet towards her. 

A few rocks fell a few feet away from her, and Wanda knew then it was a cave in, thanks to the no good Cajun. 

The tremors began to grow stronger as more of the larger rocks and boulders began to break free and collapse onto the ground, trying to maim them as best they could. But Wanda didn't move. Why wasn't she moving? She was going to be killed if she didn't move? They all were going to be killed. What was that? Did she actually care? Nah, she couldn't, could she? She had known the Brotherhood longer and she questioned whether Wanda would ever save them? Well one thing was for sure, she wasn't going to die in here, Wanda thought as she prepared the energy to charge her Hex bolts. No way was her life going to end like this. Not when she had unfinished business to attend to. 

Just then Wanda heard another voice call out, with all the rocks crashing down around her, she couldn't tell who it was. 

John jumped. "Get Down!" 

"Huh?" Wanda said. She turned to face him just as they collided full force, his body weight pushing her out from under the falling rock. 

She turned her head toward where Rogue and Gambit had been after the threat had been made. She glanced back to notice Wanda get covered by John as the cave roof started to crumble around them. 

John felt a dulling pain on the back of his head, but not much after that, including their tumble to the ground. 

Wanda turned to face John just as they collided full force, his bodyweight pushing her out from under the falling rock, knocking the wind out of her. 

They both hit the ground rather hard and rolled a few feet once they hit the ground, somehow avoiding most of the larger falling rocks. 

On her back Wanda looked up to see nothing but a thick cloud of dust surrounding her, the cave was still collapsing, but it seemed that she was safe for the moment. She slowly sat up and realized there was an extra weight on her for the first time. It was John, he had pushed her out of the way. Because she was careless. That stung, she was never careless. She was always on top of things, she never let anyone get hurt on her account. 

She growled. It wasn't like Wanda asked him to play hero and save her, she could have saved herself... somehow. 

Just then another explosion sounded in the cave causing a second wave of rocks to collapsed about them. Wanda looked down at the Aussie. He wasn't moving, and she knew that wasn't a good sign. And she always repaid her debts. So in a last minute decision Wanda decided to shield him from the final wave of rocks... 

Kitty shrieked loudly, as most teenage girls do during horror films. She covered her face then instinctively triggered her mutant ability to phase through the falling debris. She thought to herself, _'Almost lost your head about the situation there, Pryde. Gotta pay attention better.'_

Rogue gasped as the cave begins to explode around her, and before she could act or do anything to help herself or the people around her, she fell to the ground by some force. Gazing up into a sea of red... 

Rogue let out a scream shielding her head just in case. He let go! Remy had actually let go! Rogue screams again, as she begins to feel everything around her just disintegrates. 

She'd die. She'd die confused, in a wet now crumbling cave. She'd die with her teammate and three of her enemies. She'd die without finishing high school, going to college... She'd die like this? 

Kitty thought for a second who may need help more, Rogue and Remy, or John and Wanda. She decided to move toward John and Wanda, and hope that they were unconscious so she wouldn't have to deal with angry people any longer. Kitty approached them, who are somewhat under rubble. The rocks still falling gradually around them. She asked, "Anyone alive over here?!" Keeping herself in check and phased so she wouldn't get hurt. 

Live or die. This was not the situation Wanda thought she would have been put through this morning. Then again it was most likely still morning. 

Her head hurt like hell, from a rock that managed to hit her while she was shielding Pyro. Luckily she stayed awake to suffer with the pain with out any Advil relieve her pain. Life sucked. 

This sucked. 

Rogue reached up pulling the Cajuns form down, shutting her eyes tightly, burrowing her head against Remy. 

Remy had successfully knocked Rogue to the ground. She had helped him in following her down by grabbing onto his shirt. He didn't mind though. He had wanted to shield her anyway. 

_Why?_ Remy asked himself in his head wondering why he wanted to save the girl. He didn't have time to think though as he covered his head in hopes to protect it. He hoped he was either shielding Rogue's or she was shielding her own. 

Quickly, without even thinking she pressed her bare fingers against Remy's face, absorbing some of his sweet energy. Rogue reached up and touched him before he could react and immediately he went limp, but not unconscious, though it probably looked as if he was. But what to do with it? This stupid kinetic energy got them into this? Would it get them out? The cave was closing in! What would they... 

Something seemed to hit either her or Remy as she felt her body pushing even harsher against the cave floor, her eyes flicker shut, she tightening her hold on the Gambler, sliding her hands up his back and doing as Logan... or Ororo would teach her to do. Protect the head, the worst thing that could be damaged was the head right? 

She hoped... she prayed that this would just be another tight squeeze... 

 ! Remy cursed mentally. A few things went running through his head then. First he was worried because now he had no control over what happened next. He could not protect himself from the rocks let alone Rogue. Which was his reason for running to her in the first place. Then he hoped she knew what she was doing and had a reason for taking his power other then to make him unable to do anything. His next feeling was one of disappointment. In the chaos of the falling rocks he hadn't gotten a chance to enjoy the touch of the untouchable. 

Rogue had his power now but she wasn't doing anything. Remy was going to attempt to say something when a rock hit his back. He was about to let out a cry of pain when a smaller one met the back of his head and everything was engulfed in soundless black. 

What had she done? Why had she done it? What in the world had motivated her to take his energy? She didn't know how to use it to help them or get them out of this situating... and worst of all, in taking his power he had gone unconscious. Now she had a heavy man on top of her, protecting any of her bare poison skin would be hell. 

With her arms still wrapped around him, she could feel the large rock and still crumbled debris come on top of him... 

Why hadn't she gone over those files on Cerebro with the Professor? Why hadn't she taken the chance to get some idea of what Remy could do? She could take a chance, but if she did it wrong she could kill the both of them... But she had to do it, she just had to. With each passing second he began heavier. Soon she herself would be in danger. 

She couldn't think about it, she just couldn't. If she was going to do anything she'd have to do it now. 

With all the strength she could muster, hoping absorbing the Cajun's own power she could get some of his physical strength too. She leaned her head up, and over his shoulder. She pulled off a fingerless glove and pressed it against the rock, lighting it up with a kinetic glow. 

"If Ah just..." Rogue started. With a push at the rock she attempted to knock it off, but with no prevail, she tried again, still she wasn't strong enough to use just one hand to push it off. 

Her body shook as she pushed at it even harder, she felt it move. She felt it move! Thank God... that at least meant she could do something with it. Now she'd have to take the big chance, with a rush she removed the hand that had charged the rock and gave it the greatest push she could. 

And it fell, it fell off of Remy, and it was then she realized she really should make any life or death decisions in the morning. The rock would blow any second, hurting them and possibly the others. 

Rogue gripped onto the Cajun tighter and rolled herself on top of him, she gazed down at his limp form for just a second before doing it again and again. 

And then the rock exploded, she brought her arms over her head and leaned down to Remy hoping it would shield him too. 

The pieces of debris that blew against her, hurt bad but she wouldn't let herself give in. As the rock finally met it's doom, the cave still breaking she came to her feet and grabbed onto Remy's arms tugging him forward. 

"Kitty?! W-W-W-Wanda?!" Tears slid down her cheeks, they'd have to be all right. They'd just have to. Rogue glanced down at Remy, her bottom lip trembled. As the light from the outside, that seeped in through the caves mouth hit her back she let out a sigh of pained relief gripping Remy even tighter and running out into the clearing. 

She collapsed to her knees, hovering over Remy 

"Ah'm going to go for the.." She sniffled, "others, Remy. Yeh stay here." Rogue brought a finger to his temple and took a small dose of his power. "You'll be all right" she whispered, leaning down to him, wishing she could just hug him or touch him. 

Remy barely understood the last words that went into his ears with a Southern accent. It was Rogue's.. and she was going to leave him there. His eyes snapped open, which wasn't good for him at all. His vision was black, then it blurred into life and with unfocused eyes he saw her. He reached out and grabbed her wrist, his whole body screaming not to move. He ignored it and pulled her a little toward him, but with barely any effect for he was weak. The blow to the head had broken skin and his head was bleeding freely now. 

His eyes focused on the girl and he could see the worry in her eyes as she looked at him. That was all he could make out at the moment.. or comprehend. He felt bad now though for he knew that at least one of her friends had been caught in the cave in and it was his fault... not even an accident.. so he let go of her wrist and laid his head back which he realized now had snapped up when he had grabbed onto her. 

Hopefully his actions hadn't been a complete failure. If everyone made it out... maybe... just maybe they would be at least willing to cooperate long enough to have a civilized conversation instead of a fight. 

--- 

To be continued.. 

This piece of fanfiction is a collection of several months of roleplay in a Yahoo Group based environment. Certain characters were handed to people to control the actions of, to tell their part of the story which sums up the overall feel of this. Over time we've had eight fantastic writers come in and direct the story one way or another, and it is my pleasure to have been (and still be) part of this ever growing story. We all started writing this story around October 9th, 2003. 

Authors Notes: 

-- Characters/Authors -- 

Casakitten: Rogue   
Eixid: St. John "Pyro" Allerdyce   
Alice Storm: Callisto   
KiyoneKatz: Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde   
Sarah Crysala: Remy "Gambit" LeBeau   
Roguestar1: Wanda "Scarlet Witch" Maximoff   



	3. Chapter 3

X-Men Evolution is a trademarked product from Marvel, all the characters are owned by Marvel and not us. This is a work of fiction based off of said series. We make no money off this, nor do we intend to. 

Chapter 3 

--- 

Logan stalked his way into the cave, following the scents of Kitty and Rogue. Now, a thin dust had come from the back of the cave, obscuring his vision for a few moments. He growled as four more scents came along with the dust. 

His vision was waning as he entered the darkened corridor of the cave, his only guide was all the dim light his sharp eyes could drag in and the scents of several mutants. More dust blind sighted him and he felt along the wall. 

As Logan entered the cavern the dust grew thinner as it settled. He glanced over the fallen rocks and debris. He could smell Rogue but was unable to see her and the scent was fresh. He began scouting the piles of rocks. 

Logan spotted Kitty. He steadily walked over, dodging rocks and wincing with a slight tingle of pain as one hit his shoulder. "Half pint, where's Stripes?" Even through his poker face clear concern washed over his face. 

Kitty blinked and smiled, "OhMyGosh! Logan! You're here!" She seemed a bit overexcited, but that seems pretty normal for the young girl. She looked as though she wanted to hug her teacher, but refrained and pointed to the area where Rogue and Gambit had been, "She's over there, somewhere. With Gambit." 

It was the Shadowcat. She was out there, but she could see her. Wanda was buried beneath the rocks, and there was little air. 

Wanda heard her walk away. _'No!'_, she mentally yelled, _'Come back!' _ Wait a minute, hold the phone. Was she seriously thinking about calling for help? Wanda almost laughed at the thought. Hell no, she could get out of this no sweat. The only question was how? 

Logan growled lowly. He didn't want Rogue anywhere near him. He began to sniff out her trail, crossing the cave he dig through the rocks. A few drops of blood. He sniffed again. Gambit's blood. "They're not in here." He said loud enough for Kitty to hear. 

Kitty looked over at where Wanda and John were, then reacted to Logan. She blinked, "What do you mean, they're not here? They're the ones that caused this mess! They've got to be somewhere close." 

Logan shook his head. "Rogue headed outside, with the Cajun." He growled on 'cajun.' Obviously his feelings weren't the best over the Acolyte. He glanced over at Kitty. "Who else in in here?" He glanced over toward Wanda and John. 

Wait a minute there was a second voice it wasn't Kitty she hear moving away, but who else was out there? Why couldn't there be anyone she could trust around here? Wanda took in a deep breath but gathered more dust then air into her mouth. She let out a small cough. Her eyes felt heavy, she just wanted to sleep. NO! She was not going to die like this. Gathering up as much energy as she could Wanda fired off a small Hex bolt, shaking a few of the rocks loss around her. Hopefully the others heard... 

Logan heard the blast clearly. He turned to Kitty. "Come on, kid." He strode towards where the sound had come from. "Anyone back here?" He became unsure on whether or not they had just experienced a rock slide. 

Kitty nodded to Logan, "Wanda, the Scarlet Witch. And Pyro. They're under the rocks." She paused, "They went outside? Then they're safe." 

She moved toward the rubble where John and Wanda were under, "I'm going to phase in and try to pull them out?" She almost questioned her own ability to do just as she said, "Right. Cover me, Logan." 

They were coming back. Finally some good news. But did she want to be saved? Wanda thought. Hell ya she wanted to live. 

His gaze momentarily faltered to the opening of the cave. Snikt his claws shot out. "Gotcha, Half pint." He peaked his senses for any sign of danger. 

Kitty nodded. She took in a deep breath and phased to move into the rubble and attempt to grab Wanda and John and pull them out. 

But Wanda was not prepared for the hand she saw come straight through the rocks and grab her... 

--- 

Fear had engulfed her now, Kitty was still inside, Wanda was still inside, the man she only knew by Pyro was still inside. 

There was a guilt eating at her insides, Why Remy? She had saved Remy before her team mate! It was unX-men-ish it was un... well... her! 

And now, to make matters worse, he had grabbed her, his eyes had flickered open now pleading with her to stay. 

Then he released her. 

"Remy?! Oh... god..." Her tears stung her eyes as she gazes at the Cajun. 

She had to leave him, she had to go help her friend, but how could she leave him so hurt and vulnerable? 

"Remy, Ah'll be back, Ah swear" She blinked back the tears and took off back into the cave, his energy still coursing through her. Rogue glanced back at Remy, her body trembling. And in only a whisper, realizing his action was allowing her to go. "Thanks Remy" 

Rogue takes off into the cave, hands brought over her head, maneuvering around the debris and rubble. 

"I hope they're all right" Rogue bit down on her tongue, fighting back the coming tears, blood trickles down the sides of her mouth as she was drawing blood. 

They'd have to be all right, they'd just have to. 

--- 

Kitty poked her head in far enough to see how she needed to grab John and Wanda. She put her hands under the two (Under the bottom bodies' shoulders), then phased both bodies as she phased them through the debris. Once they were free, she stumbled back and sat on the ground, showing that this did put a little bit of strain on her. 

Kitty shook her head to snap out of any fatigue, then moved over to check for pulses and life signs. She checked carefully for injuries, "Are you two okay? Don't hurt me, I'm just trying ot help." Kitty said in a hesitant voice. 

It was a miracle to her, a longed sight to behold, her friend seemingly uninjured kneeling by the seemingly unconscious forms of John and Wanda, she let out a sigh of relief. Her guilt numbed for the moments time as Rogue ran forward. "Oh Kitty, thank God!" 

Rogue fell to her knees just to the back of Kitty and pressed her hands to her face, her body shaking. The worry, the fear of finding her friend injured or even worse came into full. 

Rogue brought her hands down and looks onto Wanda and then to John. 

John was obviously hurt, while Wanda seemed to have suffered a bit on her own. It was odd, a sight like this normally would have made her cheer inside. But she was worried for them. "Wanda? Yeh all right, sugah?" 

A familiar smell caught her nose, she looked off to the side of Kitty and gasped. "Logan?" Rogue came to her feet, all the complex emotions nullified by the confusion of the senior X-man's presence. 

"Hey, Stripes." Logan said trying not to smile at the goth. 

She had never wanted to hug, or smack him so much in her life. Rogue brought her arms around herself, easing back into Remy's trench coat, still tucked warmly around her. 

Logan placed a hand on Rogue's shoulder. "You all right?" He asked gruffly trying to cover his concern. 

Kitty acknowledged Rogue in return, "Oh, there you are. Glad to see you're okay. I was getting a little worried for a minute." She smirked, almost all knowingly. Kitty looked over at Logan, "Hey Chief, I think we need to get out of here as fast as possible." She gestured with her head, "A few injured and too many unanswered questions can only spell more trouble for us, huh?" 

Logan nodded. "Yeah." He leaned over and picked up the annoying Australian; grunting and muttering under his breath about eating to much. "Let's get going." He said, glancing over at Rogue. "There was blood and it sure isn't yours." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Where's the Cajun?" 

Rogue gasped. "Remy! Ah've got to go back to him!" Rogue turns on her heel and took off out of the cave, as she reached the opening she gasped again, Remy... gone.... blood... 

Rogue brought a hand to her mouth, looking around frantically for Remy, "Remy!!" She cried "Remy!!" 

Logan rolled his eyes at the frantic girl. "Calm down Rogue, we'll find him." Logan half dragged half carried, the unconscious firefly known only as Pyro. 

--- 

She had left. Muttered a few comforting words before she went but Remy had barely been able to make them out. He had a migraine and the loss of blood wasn't helping him think. 

Remy looked around him. If he was wearing his trench coat he would have ripped it and formed some sort of bandage for his head, but no, he'd given it to Rogue. He had nothing to work with. 

He strained his ears, for anything. Sometimes there would be streams in caves, he wondered if there might be one here. Off in the distance he thought her heard something. He knew very well that it could be just his imagination (especially because it was so vague) but he also knew he needed to do something before he lost too much blood. 

Slowly, the Cajun staggered to his feet and pressed his hand against the cave for support. His back was wounded too. Had he been hit there? Yes, he had, right before being knocked out. Who knows what other injuries he had picked up as well after that as well. 

Swaying and stumbling Remy made his way down the cave hoping that the sound of running water wasn't his imagination. 

His ears Hadn't been deceiving him. Or maybe they had, maybe his eyes have just joined in the cruel game. But surely not his feeling. That would tell him if the thin and shallow stream only the width of two of his hands were real enough. He reached down and dipped his hand in and was relieved to feel the bitter sweet sting of cold water. 

Remy's knees gave out then and he fell hard onto the ground. He ignored the searing pain that shot up through his back, ribs, and bleeding head but instead dipped both hands in. He pulled them out and ran them through his hair, stopping where his wound began though. He had to be careful with that. 

Carefully he removed his shirt. He then dipped it into the water and held it there to soak up the brisk cold water. While he let it do so he inspected his body. He couldn't really see around to his back but he knew he must have had a huge bruise. He felt a small trickle of blood so the rock must have broken some skin on his back. His ribs ached badly. The rock that had hit him had put pressure on them and he figured they'd probably be bruised too. 

He pulled his shirt from the water and twisted it to get rid of access water. Then he gently pressed it against the back of his head. He hissed in pain as it touched but pressed harder still. He had to stop the bleeding, but he still didn't know how he could do that with only his shirt. Even though he was barely pressing it against his skull it hurt terribly still. 

With his free hand he groped around till it closed around a rock. He then pressed the material harder on his head and squeezed the rock to forget the pain. 

He removed the shirt to look at it and found it now covered in blood. He washed it off in the stream and replaced it on his head, slowly putting pressure on it. 

He didn't even notice that he had charged the rock pressed in his palm until it exploded. Remy cursed while dropping it then immediately plunged his burnt hand into the water. Suddenly he chuckled. 

"Dis jus' isn' yo day mon ami." 

Gambit pulled the blood drenched shirt away and dipped it in the water again. His fingers were numb now not only from the freezing water and having his hand to his head, but also because of the blood loss. It was effecting his senses greatly now. He was weak and cold. He felt empty but he didn't really care. He imagined that this is what death would feel like. The thought didn't frighten him though. He wasn't afraid of death, just afraid of not fighting it. 

He pulled the shirt out and didn't bother to wring it before putting it on his scalp again. He shivered as the freezing cold water rolled down his bare back. He had done this quite some times now though and was used to the numbing cold. 

Remy grinned to himself. "Well, de adrenal rush was definitely wort' it." 

Oh yes... death was worth the adrenaline rush. It was one of the only things in life to be enjoyed. Death wasn't frightening really, just another adventure. It also meant leaving many behind though so he was determined to fight it. There was one other thing that he wanted to stick around for. 

_'Oui Remy, y'fell fo' de fille. Probably left yo by now dough. Y'did after all threaten her friends life. Who knows if dat fille's still alive.'_

Remy thought to himself. He then lay back, but before he rested his head down he rolled over onto his stomach. 

_ 'Don' go t'sleep Remy. Y'probably won' wake up.'_, He thought to himself. His eyes began to close from the weakness thought and after several jolts to stay awake, he drifted off into sleep. 

--- 

Meanwhile, amidst the chaos. 

Callisto clicked her temple, opening a small mic on her 'lips'. "Android 0167 reporting in, vital information via file is being transferred." 

'Callisto' shut off the transmission, and transferred her memory banks. 

When finished, her ear piece clicked. A mans voice sounded. "Good job, 0167. Prepare to self destruct." 

'Callisto' turned to the others, peeling off the false skin from her right hand, and pressing a red button. 

"I will Self Destruct in 30 seconds. 1 2 3 4 5 ...." 

--- 

John blinked, the fuzziness of unconsciousness leaving him. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, not understanding what he was seeing. 

A very distinct smell was all around him. Something like grease and plastic. He tried to get up, but found he was already standing. Then he looked at his shirt, and took the hat from his head and stared at it. "Dear God no..." He mumbled, looking at the purple visor with a golden M on the front. 

"Would you like fries vit that?" 

'Piotr?' John thought turning to the voice, and the sight of the large Russian gave him some comfort. But the sight of Piotr standing at the order terminal, in the same McDonalds uniform as him, brought a shiver to travel up and down his spine. 

He turned to the drive through window and saw Remy, also in a McDonalds uniform, leaning out the window and handing a bag of Happy meals to a mother in a minivan full of screaming children. 

"Move it squirt." He was pushed out of the way by Sabretooth, whose unruly mane had been packed into a hair net. "Another little shit puked in the ball-pit again." He mumbled, pushing the mop and bucket out from behind the counter and into the playroom. 

A strange beeping/Screeching sound filled his ears. Jumping in alarm John nearly cleared the table of burger buns behind him. _'Just the Bloody fryer goin off.'_ He thought to himself, relaxing a little. 

"JOHN!" 

This time John did clear the table of burger buns and wound up lying on the floor. He looked up to find a very disturbing sight. Magneto, in a McDonalds manager's uniform. 

"You are working this weekend." He commanded. "No overtime." Magneto finished, turning to go back into his office. 

"And pull those fries before you burn them again!" He commanded, slamming the door to his small office. 

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" John screamed, yes, he had died and gone to hell. 

--- 

She took a deep breath of air. It wasn't fresh air but at least Wanda didn't end up with more dust then oxygen in her mouth this time. 

Wanda felt herself get dropped to the ground, where a few rocks poked into her back, and bare arms. What she would give to have her red coat at the moment. Or even a bed, a nice hot shower, some Advil, anything that would help take the pain away. 

She squinted her eyes open and only saw darkness, that and a fuzzy image of some one right next to her. Had she passed out? She didn't remember passing out? Last thing she remembered was being grabbed by someone. Damn she hated it when she couldn't remember. 

"Where am I?" Was all she could ask. It was a stupid question she realized after she asked it because she remembered right after words. She was in Hell. 

She lifted her left hand up to her head, massaging her eyes cause she still couldn't see straight... 

Wanda watched as Wolverine tossed John over his shoulder and dragged him out, slowly following Rogue, whom frantically left them in search of the Cajun. Leaving just her and the Shadowcat. 

Kitty turned back to pay attention to Wanda. "Hey, don't move too much. We're in some cave. Near the Xavier Institute." Kitty looked up only to see Rogue run off after mention of Remy. "Well, this has to be like... a first. I'm so going to smack some sense into that guy next time I see him. Really, putting us all in danger like that." 

Kitty looked back down at Wanda, "I'm going to try to help you up, 'kay? We should like get out of here as soon as possible. I think we're on a truce for the time being." 

A truce? Wanda thought about it. A truce would never last, it would never work, and she didn't want the help. The Scarlet Witch didn't ask help from anyone. 

Wanda attempted to stand on her own. "I don't need your help." She stood wobbling slightly on her own two feet, " I can manage-" Wanda never finished her sentence because she was too weak to stand on her own. She collapsed immediately to the ground, barely able to catch herself from the fall. 

She didn't met Kitty's gaze. She knew she was looking right at her. She looked down, her head in shame, as she sat on her legs. She was not going to ask for help... 

Kitty watched Wanda stand and stumble after her bold words of 'I don't need your help.' and 'I can manage-' when it was obvious to Kitty that she couldn't manage. No matter. 

Kitty took a deep breath, giving Wanda a moment, then Kitty slipped in to put her left arm along Wanda's shoulders and urged Wanda's right arm to go around behind Kitty's neck for support. She sort of worked her way in there quickly. She commented, "I understand. You probably would manage to get out by crawling, but like, it's just safer to leave now." Kitty used the leverage to try and help Wanda back to her feet with her support. 

Wanda for an unknown reason to even her allowed Kitty to help her. She was pissed at herself for needing the help in the first place but some small part of her was grateful. Though she would never say that. 

Kitty's face was concerned, but a small smile appeared. "Oh... I don't think we were ever properly introduced. I'm Kitty." 

Properly introduced? Was she crazy? Who the hell properly introduced themselves to their enemies? Did she get hit in the head? But Wanda was to weak to snap at the pint size girl. She knew that Shadowcat knew her name, so why was she asking? But Wanda always repaid her debts so she complied to the girls wishes. 

"Wanda." She told the Kitty in a mumbled voice, she doubted that she heard it. Did it matter though? She already knew the name, maybe she was trying to trick her into believing they were on the same side but in real they weren't. Wanda's head stung, too complex a thought for her way to exhausted mind. 

Kitty supported and walked with Wanda. She continued to walk down the corridor toward where Logan and Rogue had gone toward. She talked quietly, "Do you remember what you were doing before you woke up here?" She paused, "Sorry, I guess I'm talking too much." 

Kitty mentally told herself to shut up and continued to walk forward in silence. 

That had to be the most intelligent thing Shadowcat had said all morning, Wanda thought as she tried to support herself as best she could. Only stumbling occasionally while Kitty helped her along. Not the part about talking to much that was true to but Wanda never really thought about what happened before she woke up here. What was she doing? 

Remember. Wanda told herself, let's see last week she had gone shopping and Toad had followed her to the mall, Toad ended up with a few new bruises. About three days ago Fred had gotten a twenty four hour bug so she had to cook, she had burned eight out of ten fingers until Lance kicked her out. Yesterday she was going to go the see Agatha Harkness to get some help controlling her powers but she never made it. What had happened to her? Why didn't she ever make it there? 

Wanda finally broke the silence. "I can't really remember, I was going to go see someone but but I know I never made it there." Wanda told Shadowcat, her head was starting to pound even harder now the farther they walked. She could see what looked like to be Wolverine ahead of her, still lugging John's unconscious ass with him. 

But the image before her was beginning to fade, and her legs hurt and her ribs were so sore, her arms were so scratched up it was ridiculous. She was so tired, she just wanted to fall asleep. But she would be dammed if she showed anymore weakness in front of these people. She was not some weak little girl. 

Kitty nodded at Wanda's response. The last thing she herself could even recall had been going to sleep for the night. Or was that the last thing? She shook her head and continued to walk with Wanda, following her instructor Logan to who knows where. The exit can't be that far off now. 

Kitty knew that talking more only made Wanda further annoyed with her presence, so she chose not to speak unless it was really important. She kept an eye out for any other stray mutants. Her attention kept mostly on Logan as he lead the way. 

--- 

"Calm down Rogue, we'll find him." Rogue heard her instructor call. 

Calm down? She questioned mentally as she scanned the area desperately for any sign of the Cajun, Calm down?! She took his jacket, his gloves, and left him out in the open for anything to happen. The thing that scared her the most is that she cared way much more than she would have imagined. Maybe it was just the fact that he had saved her like that--though causing her to be saved in the first place--shielding her from getting hurt, getting injured herself in the process. He played X-man while she was just so helpless. 

Rogue brought a hand to her forehead as her heart sped, she felt dizzy and nauseous. Stress didn't agree with her. How could the others be so calm? How could she be so... well... like this? It was most certainly confusing her teammates, she'd just have to remain calm and think each action through thoroughly. 

"REMYYY!!!!!" 

Great. That was thought pretty through. She stopped running her fingers through her hair. She was going to kill that stupid Cajun if... 

She let out a silent cry, _if_ he wasn't already dead... 

Logan placed a steady hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Stripes. I'll find him for ya." He gave her a crooked grin, but his mind was racing. He didn't want Rogue to get too close to Gambit. He was the type who took up a girl until he got what he wanted then dropped her the next day. Rogue was too good for that. He would make sure that he would never to that to her. 

Rogue turned to him, giving him a watery smile in return. She sighed, "It's just... he kinda saved mah life and Ah guess Ah kinda feel in debt to him" 

Logan nodded at her. "I understand." He said as he followed her, letting her look. Only sniffing occasionally to make sure he was on the right trail. 

Rogue bit down on her bottom lip, rushing off forward, searching around for any sign of the Cajun. What she wouldn't give for him to just duck out from behind a rock, laugh at her foolishness, and say something in french (sniffle) call her a silly little pet name (sniffle)... 

She stopped as she reached the gazebo, just looking at it sent a shiver down her spine. 

Her mother... in that statue form... pushing her off of the cliff's edge... 

Logan stopped at the gazebo. "Rogue, you okay?" He asked, staring at the gazebo. 

Rogue turned to him and nodded, "Ah'm fine--can yeh sniff out Remy?" 

Rogue looked away from him, wiping what looked to be tears forming in her eyes. She placed a hand on her forehead and swept over to the blood pool, kneeling next to it and dipping her hand into the small sea of red. Rogue shivered at it's cold chill and stood back to her feet, turning back to Logan "It's really fresh--he can't be that far-- and Ah--" Rogue choked on her next words "--didn't leave him for that long." 

Kitty supported Wanda and walked along, following slowly after Wolverine with John and Rogue. She thought to herself how odd the situation was, how things seemed surreal and yet... almost average. As if this were an every-day thing. She dismissed the thought, she doesn't WANT something like this to be an every-day thing. Not at all. 

--- 

In front of him was a vast expanse of grey. Below was ankle deep water that pulled at Remy to follow its currents onward. He didn't move though. What lay behind was life. He didn't move either way though. The water was appealing, but then again so was the warmth of life upon his naked back. One step would make the difference, one step forward meant death, one step back meant life. 

Remy chuckled at himself. It was his very fault that he was here, but that didn't bother him. If he chose to step back and into life he'd have seen and felt what every few had. But if he did go back into life he would have to deal with his injuries. 

At the though of those his head, back, and ribs began to hurt. He had his wounds eve in death. 

Remy lifted a leg to step forward. Before putting it down though he paused, then pulled it back. He glanced behind him and was surprised to see grey when he had expected to see some sign of life. It was life though, he knew. But what was there to go back there for? 

--- 

To be continued... 

Authors Notes: 

-- Characters/Authors -- 

Casakitten: Rogue   
Eixid: St. John "Pyro" Allerdyce   
Alice Storm: Callisto   
KiyoneKatz: Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde   
Sarah Crysala: Remy "Gambit" LeBeau   
Roguestar1: Wanda "Scarlet Witch" Maximoff   
The Gothic Kleptomaniac: Logan "Wolverine" 

In this chapter we say good bye to Alice Storm, as she had left the group, and The Gothic Kleptomaniac joins as Logan. 


	4. Chapter 4

X-Men Evolution is a trademarked product from Marvel, all the characters are owned by Marvel and not us. This is a work of fiction based off of said series. We make no money off this, nor do we intend to. 

Chapter 3 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

John breathed in. 

The smell was different, nothing like the damp musky cave, and nothing like the horrid smell that permeated everything in his dream. 

He nearly cried out as something jolted him. His ribs protesting as they banged against something hard, a shoulder. 

Somebody was carrying him. Having flung his body haphazardly over their shoulder. He finally was able to crack one eye, and through the matted orange hair looked at the upside down image of someone's back. 

He tried to say something, but currently couldn't muster up enough brain-power as he came out of unconsciousness. But he smelled something, something like cigars and beer. 

_'Remy?'_ John thought. On occasion he smoked like a freight train, and on more occasions drank like a sailor. It was, it had to be Remy. 

John finally mustered up enough strength to lift his dangling arms and wrap them tightly around the figure carrying him. He didn't care how an up-side down backwards hug looked. He was just glad he, and at least one member of the former Acolytes, was alive. 

Logan tensed as he 'hugged' by the fire ant. He growled and almost threw him to the ground. 

"Remy... Glad to see you alive mate..." John finally managed to call out. 

A new sound hit John's ears as the figure carrying him stopped walking. A low growl reverberated out his savior, and just one thought rang through John's head as he realized his carrier was defiantly not the Cajun. 

"Oh Shi..." 

Another low growl. 

"You got that right, bub." Logan said, lowering his shoulder and leaving the Aussie on the ground in an unconventional heap. 

Wanda just continued to walk in silence letting Kitty help her along the way. She didn't want the help and as much as she hated to admit it she needed the help. She hated being weak. It was so degrading. 

She was so sore, and she hurt in places she didn't even know existed. What she would give for Advil, or a nice long hot bath. She couldn't take baths at the Brother Hood house, cause they only had a stand up shower. And even if they had a tub, she wouldn't trust setting one foot in there. 

Keeping her gaze mainly to the ground, her head managed to snap up at the sound of Wolverine growling at something. She tensed. Was someone coming? 

Then she saw the odd image of Pyro clinging to Logan's middle and she relaxed a bit. Cringing slightly when she saw him hit the ground, Wanda maintained her stone face. Not letting any of her emotions show there, but she wanted to scream. For an unknown reason she just wanted to scream. 

John hit the ground, cringing in pain as the impact sent his injuries into overdrive, and alerted him to ones he didn't even realize he had. 

He took his time breathing. Every time his chest expanded drawing in the clean air the mussels in his back felt like they were tearing. He tried to stand, but doubted anyone noticed the failed effort. 

Kitty and Wanda just looked down at him, and his head hurt too much to move and see if Logan had just continued walking after dropping him, which he suspected was true. 

"Little help?" He asked, trying to make light of the fact that he could barely move. 

Kitty winced as well at Logan dropping John. It was something she would really expect from Logan, but it still seemed insensitive. As they approached John, he asked for help. Kitty made a face, unsure of if she could do something or not. 

Wanda watched as John called out for help. A small, very small part of her felt sorry for him. Okay she lied, she felt sorry for him. He looked worse then Toad did after she Hex'd him into a wall. It was a sad sight to see. And yet she kept on her slowly going way. But it was only a matter of time before one of them helped him up. It wasn't going to be her though. She didn't even like getting help so why would she give it? Exactly, there was no good reason for her to   
help him when she could barely help herself. 

John winced as Wanda walked past him, and thanked whatever powers that be for the fact that she didn't deem it necessary to kick him while he was down, literally. 

And yet, there it was. The guilt. The fact that she had been careless in the cave. The fact that she had been distracted and he needed to help her out. She didn't ask for it though, and she helped him out once he got knocked out. So she repaid her debt. It was as simple as that. Yet the guilt was still there, and she hated it. 

Something popped in her hip, ribs or something, all she knew was it hurt like hell and she had to sit down. She bit down hard on her lip in pain. Her eyes teared up but she blinked them away, no one would see her cry, the pain she felt was like a thousand knives stabbing her all at once, in one single spot. She bit down so hard she could taste the blood, it was so bitter and nasty but she tried to ignore it. She couldn't stand anymore. She had to sit down. 

Stopping almost abruptly, she turned to look Kitty in the eye for the first time since they left the cave. Wanda was slightly panting now, as she rasped out, "I need to sit down." 

Kitty nodded and helped Wanda to a sitting position. She took this moment to move over to John's side, "Are you okay?" She asked for the first time to the Aussie. She checked very carefully for any major injuries, now that everyone's sort of sitting about. 

She looked down the hall, and mentioned, "Hey Logan, that wasn't very nice." She commented about John, "Look like we're just going to sit here for a minute. Find Gambit and bring him back here I guess? Make sure Rogue is okay." 

Kitty thought to herself, 'Who'm I kidding? We're sitting ducks! We're so dead if someone tries to attack us. Good luck to us.' 

"Kitty right?" John asked, straining his breaths. He blinked his eyes, trying to clear up his constantly blurring vision. 

She looked him over and nodded in reply to her name being said. 

"Got to ask you something, and I want you to answer me straight. Can you do that Sheila?" 

Kitty blinked, "Of course." She replied, "I'll be completely honest with you." She checks on him, very careful. "You aren't exactly in the greatest shape here. I suppose power-usefulness always comes at the oddest times." 

-- 

Remy woke to the dank musty smell of the cave. He groaned lightly as all the aches and pains began screaming for attention. He tried to move but quickly stopped when the pain increased. The blood loss was really getting to him now though. He could barely move and his fingers were numb. 

With slow and careful movements he moved his hand to his head where he had tied his shirt around it. It was still there but his fingers were so numb he could just feel that it was. 

It took him at least five minutes to manage sitting up but he managed it and once he did he fumbled around with the shirt tied to his head. It probably looked silly but if it had stopped the bleeding at all he was happy. It had probably been stupider to leave were he had initially been but if he had he'd probably been dead by now. The water had helped... it had been cold enough to at least slow the blood flow, and that had helped. Though... his head was still bleeding slightly and that needed to be attended to right away. 

When he finally managed to get the shirt off his head he inspected it. It was so covered in blood he didnt think he could save it. None the less he dipped it into the water and even though the current was weak, it felt strong to him. He was very weak himself now. 

When he pulled the shirt out it was still covered in his blood, but despite the fact that it was now completely useless he tied it around his waist, his fingers often slipping and getting more in the way then helping. Without feeling they were pretty much useless. 

It took about another five minutes for him to get to his feet. His legs didn't want to hold his weight and his body resisted every movement. When he finally did manage to get to his feet though he felt like crumpling to the ground again and passing out, but he knew that if he passed out now, he wouldn't wake up. 

His shoulder against that cave wall he began to walk. With each step he felt as if his legs would give way and he'd fall down again and he didn't think he could get back up if he did. He had to walk to the others though, he didn't have the energy to charge anything and announce his presence with an explosion, nor did he have the voice to holler out to them, and so, slowly, he walked the way he had come. 

Breathing became difficult but he continued to move on. He had to find someone and quick. 

Finally he did see them. They didn't notice him though. He grinned and momentarily his pain was forgotten as he saw someone. 

Rogue still wore his trench coat, and his gloves. She is so cute. Remy thought, his grin broadening. But then he saw the guy that went by the name of Wolverine and Remy knew this was one guy to be wary of. Especially in Remys condition. Pyro was laying on the ground but conscious. Kitty was near him. Wanda was sitting and Rogue and Logan had their backs turned to him. 

"Ylookin fo little ole Remy, chere?" Remy asked in a low, hoarse voice, but his accent still shone through thickly to his pleasure and it was defiantly loud enough for them all to hear. This however had taken the last ounce of strength out of him and he fell to his knees. 

Everything hurt a hundred fold. It almost felt as if his ribs had cracked and broke as his knees hit the ground but he knew they hadn't. His lungs felt as if they had collapsed, his chest felt like there was a huge knot in it, his back seemed to scream a scream he felt in his very bones, and the whole room spun before his dark eyes. 

Despite all his best efforts a loud groan of pain escaped his lips and darkness began to swirl before his eyes but he did not pass out. 

It was beautiful music to her ears once she heard his voice again, though hoarse and pained all her doubts and worries seemed to wash away. If he could talk to her, he'd be alright. It was as Logan had said when Jamie caught the flu, 'If you can talk, then your fine.' Rogue turned to him, her eyes glossed with tears of relief at the sight of him. 

But that saying she so dearly believed seemed to fade from her mind as he fell to his knees, he wasn't alright... 

Rogue hadn't known how long she had gazed into his red eyes, her body frozen, her heart stopped. She was going to faint. The sight of him was too overwhelming. 

But she couldn't faint, she couldn't faint now... not with his limp form bleeding to death in front of her. 

In a fast movement she pulled off his trench coat and ran to his aid, draping it around his shoulders and wrapping her arms around him, slowly she lowered him to the ground, resting his head on her lap. 

"Logan!" Rogue cried, "He needs help right now!" fearful tears leaked out of eyes, as she hovered over Remy's injured form. 

Remy fought the unconsciousness that was trying to overtake him. He was lying down now, his trench coat around his shoulders. His head was lying in Rogue's lap and he'd have given anything to be able to just wave away the consuming darkness and be able to look at her. 

Rogue bent her head down, "Ah won't leave you this time" she whispered, wiping at her coming tears "Ah promise, Remy" 

His vision finally cleared and he could see her pale face. There was worry behind her eyes and Remy grinned at her despite the pain that still held on with an iron fist. 

"Remy appreciate dat p'tite." Remy said, forcing his arm to move and he reached up, nearly putting a hand to her cheek then remembering that if he did he would pass out... and wouldn't wake up, so he stopped himself right before it touched. Now his hand didn't have anywhere to rest though and it fell back down to his side involuntarily and he bit back the groan of pain. 

Rogue winced, but quickly saw the sense of the situation and let his arm drop. 

"How's Pyro? He okay?" Remy asked her. 

Rogue smiled weakly, "He'll be fine" she whispered in response. "He'll be fine." 

Logan snarled quietly, but came to help Rogue. "He'll be fine." Logan said, tossing a look at the mutant heap on the ground. Logan's eyes wavered over the Cajun. Not exactly wanting to help him, but if he meant something to Rogue he'd help. He took off his shirt, revealing a grey wifebeater underneath, and held it to Gambit's head wound. 

Rogue looked up at Logan, now at her side. 

"Rogue, get inside and get a first aid kit." Logan ordered. He almost felt sorry for the kid. He was beat up pretty bad, but he did save Rogue, and that gave him credit in his book. 

Rogue nodded, "Ah... okay..." she looked back down on Remy, "Ah'll be back--don't...die..." a blush crept onto her face, Remy was going to be alright...Logan said so...and if she hurried... 

Rogue gently lifted Remy's head off of her lap, her hands balled in fists so she could at least touch him with the gloved part of the back of her hands. 

Rogue came to her feet, glancing down on Remy before taking off up the stair case leading up into the gardens. 

Before Remy could respond Rogue was moving his head and it took him every ounce of strength not to let on just how much that hurt. By the time the pain began to subside though Rogue had already taken off and he hadn't been able to respond to her. He chuckled hoarsely, but this too was a mistake. His chest heaved with the motion, jolting his body and pain coursed through him again. 

Once this subsided into the usual extreme ache he looked up at the Wolverine guy. 

"T'anks homme. Gambit 'preciate de help. Jus' sorry y'had t'see him like dis." 

Logan just shook his head. He didn't want to let on that he actually liked the Cajun. He sighed. "I've been in worse scrapes than this, Gumbo. You'll live." 

--- 

She ran past the bench by the shrubs, each fountain at top speed, her white streaked auburn hair falling in front of her face. 

As she reached the garden end, she pushed her way through the shrubbery wall and out in front of the Institute itself. Slowly she came to the door and rattled the door knobs. With a click, the doors swung open. 

'Why aren't they...' Rogue took in a deep breathe '...locked?' 

"JEAN!!! SCOTT!!!" Rogue let out a silent cry "ANYONE!!" 

No response. 

Rogue rushed inside, taking off up the staircase, quickly she headed down the hall towards the elevator which would lead down to the infirmary. "KURT!!" she tried again, though knowing her attempts in vain. 

She steeped into the elevator, pounding against the infirmary floor button. 

"AUTHORIZATION" came a voice. 

"Rogue" she replied sternly. 

With a jolt the elevator came down. 

Rogue leaned against the elevator wall and slid down, curling up into a fetal position. 

The Institute, her home, was just...empty... 

Chartruese had seen the girl run to the gate. The black haired mutant followed, hoping to find some help. She cautiously stuck her head inside the door long enough to hear the other girl yelling. Seeing the mansion empty she slipped inside and walked down the hall the girl had disappeared down. 

--- 

"Yeah yeah yeah..." John dismissingly waved his hand, before looking up at the girl with a smile. Trust an X-Man to be so dramatic. "But How's my hair?" 

"Tell me, is it that bad Doc?" His lip quivered as he fought to hide a laugh, the girl's expression was priceless. "Can nothing be done?!?!" 

Kitty blinked at John's words. Stunned, she wasn't sure exactly how to react. 

"Oh my God", Wanda said lightly as she heard what John had asked Kitty. He did not just ask that did he? She almost wanted to laugh at his antics. The boy's body was in a shambles but his sense of humor still had life. Amazing. Just amazing. She wished she could be in as high spirits as he was. But it hurt to much to breathe at the moment so how could she be happy when she felt so crappy? Having her period was better then this for Christ's sake. Wanda thought, letting out a   
long sigh as she watched the others. 

Kitty couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Well, more like a giggle. She made another semi-serious face, taking her right hand and tousling John's hair just slightly. "Oh, I don't know. We just may have a fashion emergency on our hands. I think we may just have to   
shave it all off." She smirked. 

He heard Wanda gawk. John was sure she was about to laugh, but she quickly hit it with a sigh. Maybe there was hope for the... John tried to think of the right word. Ice Queen, Antisocial Witch, Antichrist? 'Forget it...' He gave up; all this thinking was making his head hurt worse. 

He looked back at the X-Shelia, 98 sure she was kidding, but he still worried about those other 2. 

"Amputation..." He covered his eyes with his forearm, attempting to wipe away the grit on his face. "I'm gonna need a donor then." 

He looked over to Wanda. "Guess black and red could work..." 

Logan turned his attention towards the one called Pyro, joking around with Kitty and Wanda. 

Remy began to laugh... to his dismay. It hurt terribly but that was John for you. Funny in the most serious of times. Remy couldn't see his friend, but he could definitely hear him and what was being said. Though he knew that the overwhelming pain that came from his laughing was soon to blur all senses so he forced himself to stop and take a deep breathe. 

"Y'never could be serious could ya Johnny." Remy let out a hoarse chuckle he immediately regretted. "But Remy t'inks he like de file's suggestion. Y'should jus' shave it off." He said sarcastically, wishing he could turn his head and see the pyromaniac, but he wasn't about to try, it hurt enough as it was. 

It took Wanda a moment to figure out he was talking about her, and when she did her hand instantly went up to feel her hair, for some reason, just to make sure it was still there. She almost felt like smiling at her foolishness. But then realized who was there and tried to frown. But she felt pretty good, mentally, not physically. But she felt pretty light hearted at the moment for some unknown reason. 

"I say we shave it off. It would most definitely be an improvement." Wanda told the Aussie, and evil glint in her eyes for effect. 

John tried to laugh, but it came out as a string of strained coughs. Personally, he would hive up every hair on his body at the moment if it would stop the pain. 

"Might have been dreamin..." John looked around with his eyes, not even attempting to move his battered body. "But didn't someone mention a first aid kit?" 

He looked at Kitty and Wanda. Rogue, she must have been sent to go get it. His head was still fuzzy. Remy had carried him out, no wait; it had been the Wolverine... 

"Wheres Remy!" John blurted out, trying despite the pain to get up and look for his friend. 

"Remy's right here y'numb skull. Didn' y'hear me? Non... y'deaf t'anybody but de lady's aren't ya. Dough... Remy could be accused o' dat too..." 

Remy said in his hoarse voice, but he had raised it so perhaps this time Pyro could hear him since he didn't the last time. It still hurt to talk though, but Remy wasn't about to let some pain get in the way of making from dear old John. 

"But since y'missed de first t'ing Remy said t'ya, Remy agree wit' de filles. Y'should shave yer head Johnny." He grinned at the nick-name. 

Logan let out a low chuckle here, trying to imagine the spritey boy without hair. He looked around. "Rogue should've been back by now." 

--- 

Quickly and diligently, Rogue snatched a medi-bag from the medical supply closet and began to gather up all the medical supplies she imagined she'd need to tend to both Remy's and John's wounds. She was trying to hurry, trying not to dawdle but she was just so flustered with it all. Could she spare a few moments to get a jacket out of her bedroom to cover up her now bare arms (from giving Remy back his coat)? Could she spare to pull on a pair of gloves before returning to her friends? How serious were their injuries? Constantly she was asking herself what the Professor or Scott would do, but each time she felt her heart aching. Where were two of the most respectable people in her existence now? Why didn't they end up in that cold dark cave as they did? Were Kitty, Logan, and herself what was left of the glorious X -men? 

More tears. Great. Rogue certainly found the best time to be an emotional wreck. 

Rogue swallowed hard, blinking back the tears and shutting the cabinet. Her eyes moved around the room, looking for something - anything! That would help her care for them... she had gotten most of everything that would care for their type of wounds... 

Without a second question she took off out of the infirmary and at the elevator, quickly she pressed the button expecting the doors to open immediately as, after all, she was the only one inside. 

Rogue swung the medibag over her shoulder and took off back down to the infirmary, stopping short of the door and bringing her hands to her head. What to do? Rogue removed one of Remy's gloves and tucked it into her shirt turning back to the elevator. 

Rogue would have them at her mercy and would be well prepared to take them down... well, unless it was Magneto. She couldn't really hurt him... but Magneto was dead... so... 

_Enough thinking!'_ she shouted at herself mentally, rushing into the opening elevator and stepped inside. 

Rogue got in stance, her hands balled into fists, one leg stretched out to the door ready to fight if necessary. 

--- 

To be continued... 

Authors Notes: 

-- Characters/Authors -- 

Casakitten: Rogue   
Eixid: St. John "Pyro" Allerdyce   
KiyoneKatz: Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde   
Sarah Crysala: Remy "Gambit" LeBeau   
Roguestar1: Wanda "Scarlet Witch" Maximoff   
The Gothic Kleptomaniac: Logan "Wolverine", Chartruese. 


	5. Chapter 5

X-Men Evolution is a trademarked product from Marvel, all the characters are owned by Marvel and not us. This is a work of fiction based off of said series. We make no money off this, nor do we intend to.

Chapter 5

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Remy looked up at the man. He didn't know how long it took to get a first aid kit from the mansion they stayed at, but if this fellow said she's been gone a little too long, then Remy'd agree... and he didn't like the idea of Rogue missing.  
"Why don' yo go lookin' for her den? Remy'll be fine fer now." Remy said to him hoping Rogue was okay. He closed his eyes as a quick wave of pain went through him and almost regretted telling Wolverine to leave, but he rathered he found Rogue and made sure she was alright so he bit back the pain and forced a somewhat re-assuring smile on his face for the Wolverine so he'd go look for her.

Kitty hummed to herself, "Red and black? So not you." She smiled, and ruffled his hair once more, "Naw, I like you just the way you are. No amputations today."

She took in a deep breath, letting the moment get to her. For this moment, she actually looked a lot more tired than she had been acting. Just putting on a strong face for everyone, it appeared. She blinked, "Gambit? He's over there... don't worry about it."

Logan grunted, he wasn't exactly up to leaving Kitty alone with these vigilantes. He took one more look at the 'reassuring' smile on the Cajun's face. But, it wasn't like they could hurt her, they were too far gone themselves.  
"Kitty, make sure they stay here. I'll find the Rogue." Logan took off at a fast paced walk toward the mansion.

Kitty made a face as Logan decided to investigate after Rogue. "Greeaaat.", was all that she could muster.

---

Logan made it to the door when something hit his nose. Another mutant was here, but the scent was unfamiliar. Unfamiliar, but fresh. Keeping his eyes open he slunk inside. He growled softly picking up the scent again, Rogue's as well. Both scents led down the stairs. He stalked up the stairs, a certain familiar Snikt sound filled the the hallway that the two mutants had went down.

Chartreuse had almost reached the elevator went she heard a metallic sound. She turned, someone was coming down the hall. She gasped and quickened her pace, not wanting to be caught by them. She turned down a smaller hall, it obviously led to some bedrooms. She quickly tried a door; locked. Without thinking, a small glass pin slid into her hand. She focused herself, though rushing, on the hopeful sound of a click as the door unlocked and slipped open. She congradulated herself on the quick job, she usually couldn't get a door unlocked in such short time. Hearing no one coming down the hall she pushed open the door and slipped inside.  
'Oh great.' Char mentally smacked herself, she had managed to slip into an exitless bathroom. At least there was a mirror.

Logan stopped, he thought he heard something. A click, like a lock. He stopped at the intersection between the hallways. Rogue had gone one direction and the other mutant had gone the other way. He didn't think of this new mutant to be dangerous, her scent was filled with vanilla and some hope, not hate and putrice. He called out lightly.  
"Rogue? Stripes." Maybe she was still in the medlab. Hank sometimes displaced things. Alot of things, come to think of it. He shook his head, Rogue could take care of herself, just as she had with Gumbo. He turned down the separate hallway, following the mutant's trail to the bathroom. Why would someone want to hide in a bathroom? Logan reached for the doorknob, it wasn't locked but something was leaning against the door.

Char heard the handle turn. The person must have heard or seen her. Her blue eyes narrowed, getting an icy glaze. She leaned her body against the door, her weight wouldn't be much held, though. This was one of the moment she wished she had different powers. She through open the door and concentrated on the man infront of her. She held out her hand, a thin glass layer firmly planted his feet to the ground and she frantically looked around for somewhere to run to. Stupid move. She was stuck in a bathroom, with no escape route, and a scary looking man with sharp, knife-like, claws.

---

And so... Wolverine left him. Remy was kind of relieved though. The man was kind of intimidating. If he'd have been his normal self he'd have barely noticed and ignored it, but in his condition he had noticed it.  
Remy looked around as much as he could without actually turning his head. He didn't like being here, this vulnerable, with only one ally that was nearly as vulnerable as himself, a witch with a bad temper whom was also injured because of him, and an X-girl he knew nothing about.  
Remy attempted to sit up but he couldn't and he figured he needed to stay as still as possible to keep his heart from beating as slowly as he could. The slower it beat the less blood he lost.  
Remy sighed. "'Ey.. John... how y'doin'? Hope Remy didn' hurt ya Too bad."

John quickly cut his eyes over to where Remy sat.

"Me?" He asked, feigning surprise. "Oh, I couldn't be better mate. Come to think of it, when I got this morning I said to myself: 'Self...' I said 'It's such a beautiful day today, but you know what could make it so much better? If one of my teammates CAUSES A CAVEIN AROUND MY BLOODY ASS!!!"

John coughed again after raising his voice. He probably shouldn't have strained himself like that, but he felt a point needed to be made.

Remy winced as the each yelled word hit him like a physical blow. His ears pounded and his blood rushed. He had too bad of a headache to listen to his friend scream. Although.. he had every right to.

Wanda watched them, only half paying attention, she was more concerned about what exactly was wrong with her. Could she stand if she tried too? Was anything broken? She knew something was wrong with her ribs. Maybe if she was lucky then she only bruised a few, IF she was lucky.

But seeing as how she woke up in a cave this morning she wouldn't consider this one of her lucky days. And the fact that she would consider hersekf lucky if only a few bruised ribs were her only injuries didn't make her feel all that lucky.

And who was to blame for her wonderfully healthy condition? The Cajun. She just wanted to ring his little neck at the moment, but she was to weak. Dam him.

"Mark my words Cajun, once I'm healed, I'll Hex your ass to kingdom come, for this." She threatened, feeling it needed to be said. Just sitting her like that made her feel weak, and she hated feeling weak.

'Yup' Remy thought to himself. 'Remy be killed for dat. T'ought he was actually gonna make it fer a second dere.' He thought in amusement, but he didn't risk saying any more. If Wanda did feel she had enough strength to hex him... it'd probably kill him.

Kitty stretched, and then stood up. She moved over to Gambit's side to check on his injuries (Not that she could do much or anything).

"How're you feeling?" Kitty asked Gambit. "I think you're in the worst shape out of everyone here." Obvious, duh. "Anything I can help you with?" Kitty idly thought to herself, 'Totally feeling useless here. Way to go, Pryde.' She shrugged as she checked on Gambit quietly.

Remy grinned. Of course it'd be Rogue's friend who spoke in a low voice so pain didn't enfulf him again... of course it'd be an X-man who'd show some caring. But then again, he really didn't blame the others for wanting to pound his head in. Remy grinned at Kitty, "Remy'll be fine. Jus' as long as my chere arrives."

John strained and slowly rose to his feet, wobbling a little as he did so.

"Speakin of your 'Chereee...'." John drug out the word. "Shouldn't she and the Badger be back by now?" He asked, looking in the direction of the Mansion.

Kitty scrambled to her feet as she saw John stand. She quickly moved over to help support him (if he needed it). "Hey, watch out. Don't need to go hurting yourself more."

She made a face, "You guys must think I'm totally weird by helping out like this, huh?"

Remy tried to look up at his friend but as usual still couldn't move his head. "Y'guys can go ahead and look for 'em den. Remy t'ink he'll stay here. He can't move anyway 'less someone carry 'im.. and he ain't gonna let y'guys do dat." Remy said with a grin. He then turned to Kitty "An' they're yo're friends.. so y'better go check on 'em."

Kitty shrugged, "Yeah, but... knowing who's involved, it's safe to say that if something got them, I have even less of a chance. In retrospect, it's safer to be here. Not to downplay myself, but Logan can certainly take care of himself. And I realize you all aren't defenseless." She shook her head, "They'll be back soon. I'll stay."

Remy grinned at the girl. She seemed to have found an odd liking to Pyro, but Pyro had seemed to have found an odd liking to the Scarlet Witch, and he was highly amused by the whole thing.  
"Suit yerself p'tite." Remy said with a shrug, but he knew if he was in good enough shape... or even if he was at least able to walk he would be out searching for Rogue. If this girl was so confident they'd be okay though, Remy should just trust her. He just hoped that'd they'd return soon.

---

Logan stared down at his feet. "What the..." He seemed surprized, partly because she encased his feet in glass but also because he had no idea what she was doing in the bathroom. She looked afraid of him. But, then again, alot of people were.  
"It's okay kid, I'm not gonna hurt you." He reached down and sliced the glass around his feet, causing it to break apart. He pulled his claws back in. She wasn't a threat, not yet anyway.  
"So, what are ya doing here?" Logan asked.

Char took a hesitant step back. "Um..." She fought for the words she was looking for. "Mr. Xavier...he sent for me." She hoped she had picked the right words. She stared down at her feet and the broken shards of glass. "I knocked on the door, earlier, but no one answered and then I saw..." She narrowed her eyes in thought, absentmindedly tugging on a few locks of ebony hair. "I saw a girl come inside...so I followed her, but got lost in here." She glanced down, pretending to become fascinated by the cowboy boots she wore. She smirked when she noticed he was wearing a pair as well. Good time to change the subject.  
"You like horseback riding?"

Logan raised an eyebrow at the question. He ignored it as well. "So, Chuck sent ya here." He stated, musing calmly. "I suppose your power is that?" He motioned to the glass on the floor. He turned around and took a few steps out of the bathroom.  
"Ya comin' or not, 'cause I've got people to see, places to go." Logaan quoted the well known line. "And at the moment the people need help." He smirked at the girl. "So, doll, know anything 'bout first aid?"

She shook her head gently. Frowning at being called 'Doll.' "Nothing really." She said quietly, suddenly shy. "Is someone hurt?" She asked, the urgency rising in her voice.

Logan shrugged. "You could say that." He turned to the girl. "Coming?" He rather hoped the girl would come, she reminded him of Rogue slightly. Even though they seemed like nearly complete opposites. He smiled as though he suddenly remembered something. "I'm Logan"  
She nodded. "Chartreuse." She mildly stepped out of the bathroom and glanced down the hall, she looked around and tugged her leather jacket tighter around her body. Not out of cold, but of comfort.  
He nodded. "Alright, Char." He has dubbed her with two nicknames in one day, that was a first. He took a step into the bathroom and grabbed a first aid kit from under the sink. Logan took off at a medium pace down the hall. He could barely hear the girls steps beside him; lightfooted. He hated it when people were quiet, like that Cajun. It made him feel like someone was deliberatley trying to follow him. He tried the elevator; no luck. He shrugged, Rogue could take care of herself. She probably wanted to be alone right now. He growled out of habit and paced down the hall, toward the stairs.  
Char glanced around, looking amazed at some of the beautiful vases. She followed Logan down the stairs. "Hey, Slick." She called out, "Where we going?"

Now he had a nickname. He shrugged it was bound to happen sometime. "Out back," He said. "The people...they need help." He pushed open the back door and headed for the gazebo that was near the back of the property.

Chartreuse followed, glancing over the large mansion grounds, fascinated. As they neared the gazebo she began to hear voices. She focused her hearing on them and brushed her long black hair out of her face.

Logan made his way to the gazebo. "Half pint." He growled at Pyro, just for fun. He knelt down and opened the kit, pulling out some bandages and a few bottles of ointments. He held one up, ignoring everyone, and reading the labels. He snorted. Mumbling something about Hank. He tossed a few rools of bandages at Kitty. "Wrap up the Witch and Firefly." He squinted at Gambit and again looked around for Rogue.

Kitty blinked as Logan re-entered, catching the bandages (just barely). "Wha..what?"

As the doors opened, Rogue found a... normal sight...it didn't look like anyone had entered or anyone had been there...

Slowly she exited the elevator and strolled down the halls, speeding up with each step until she was finally at a run. Taking off back down the stair case running to the open doors. With a pant she sped out of the door and back into the gardens, her hands brought over her head to protect herself from the thorny vines and bushes. She cursed under her breathe as a thorn hit againts her arm, even if she would have wanted to take a jacket something just told her to get out of the mansion and fast.

Rogue let a sigh of relief as she came back to the staircase, quickly she ran down, stumbling and tripping every so often.

As she reached the end, she took off to the mouth of the cave, clutching the bag hanging off of her shoulder. She had taken too long to return, way too long, Remy could have needed her! And -ahem- the other's too.

As she reached the cave, she immediately fell to her knee's, crawling to where Remy lay

Rogue, still panting, hovered over Remy smiling sweetly "Hi" she managed in a deep breathe, letting the bag fall off of her shoulder and to his side. "How're yeh, sugah?"

She appeared so suddenly that his temporarily slow mind took a few seconds to process it. As soon as it had though, Remy smirked at her. "Ahh, chere, y'face de most potent medicine y'could give dear ol' Remy." He said in his hoarse but still charming voice. "But he could still use whateve' y'have dere in dat bag." He finished, his eye flickering for the slightest instant to the bag but returned immediatly to Rogue's face.

John watched the brunette fumble with the medical supplies.

Kitty fumbled with the bandages and asked Pyro politely, "Uh... so where are you hurt? I'm new at this whole first-aid thing. So I might suck at this."

At least she's being honest.

He took a shaky step back, nearly stumbling in his weakened state. The words "I might suck at this" ringing through his head.  
"Uh... I'm not that bad off... Really." He stammered. She held a couple simple rolls of gauze in her hands, but John wasn't 100 sure needles wouldn't be involved. "Just a whack on the head and a hurt back..." He tried to laugh, to find anything to divert the possibility of being stuck with a needle.  
Then he found his diversion.  
"Go ahead and help her." He pointed directly at Wanda. "Ladies first."

Wanda sent a quick glance towards him. " Coward." She muttered. Just her luck, she was going to kill John for this, and Remy, both for different reason, both would die slowly and painfully, if she was lucky, and healed up here pretty soon. Meaning she may need some help here. But she wasn't about to take it here in front of everyone, she could do it on her own.

"Just give me the bandages, I can do it myself." Wanda told, more like ordered Shadowcat to hand over the gauzes and Hydrogen Peroxide. As she struggled to get up and hold her own, her ribs retracting in enormous pain. Her bruised legs wobbling under her weight, her gash on her left arm stinging beyond belief, and her pounding head set everything else in sync. She could do this she told herself, trying to ignore the corsing pain, she could stand with out anyones help, she wasn't weak.

Kitty rolled her eyes at John's 'fear', and handed the bottle and some gauze over to Wanda as requested. She took the remaining bandages and moved back over to John, "Now you're just being a baby. I'm not completely inept, I'm just not an expert, okay? Now where are you hurt?"

She nodded silently as Rogue re-entered the area, she turned around to behind John and noticed some slight scratches through his costume there. "You're not fine." She touched the area beside it.

John grit his teeth and jerked as Kitty touched his back.

"Yeah, well maybe not." John said, feeling a bit weaker at the knees. "Just don't go wiggilin your fingers around in there okay?" He asked as Rogue came back into view.

Kitty let out an annoyed 'ugh'. "Look, just relax and take it." She gets all demanding like.

She opened up a tube of anticeptic since she already handed Wanda over the Hydrogen Peroxide. She smoothed over the cream on the visible wounds John had on his back, then started to cover and carefully wrap the wound. She's not as much of a clutz as she claimed she'd be, actually, she's rather gentle.

Logan watched the two X-men take care of their so called 'enemies.' They didn't seem like much of a threat now, except Wanda, but then again, she even scared him. Logan watched Rogue care for Gambit and Kitty for Pyro, and then Wanda... herself. Slightly amused Logan turned to watch the mansion.

Everything confused him. His past, the present, and the future. He wasn't sure if he would ever remember his past, even what had happened in the last few hours. Even now, the present, where had the new girl come from, when did the Professor meet with her, did he even tell anyone about her? Logan was sure she wasn't lying, but, he wasn't close to trusting anyone here, not anymore.

His brow furrowed in thought. What happened to everyone? The mansion was empty, not a trace of any of the X-men. Even Magneto was gone. Why would Magneto leave his lackeys here? With Logan. It just didn't make sense. There must be someone else behind this, but who?

---

Wanda watched them for but a moment, as she slowly walked away from them. She didn't need them, she could survive on her own, Wanda told herself, though it was kind of nice, to have someone actually care.

She stopped when she was a safe distance away, and was hidding behind some bushes. She carefully and slowly raised her once skin tight and favorite black tank top, but now pretty much a tattered rag up about three or four inches above her navel.

She cringed at the sight of her bruised and swollen ribs. This was gonna hurt, she thought as she slowly began to wrap the bandages around the injured area, taking slow deep breaths as she tightened the bangades. Dam it hurt like Hell, it hurt so much that she let a tear slide down from her eye.

Wanda let out a long deep breath when she was finally done. "I hate that stupid Cajun." She said, blaming her whole rotten cave experiance on him, him and Pyro, and Rogue, and well Kitty was the only one out of the group she actually liked, well repected at least. What did possess that girl to try and attack her anyway? She would have to ask her later, Wanda thought.

She had cleaned up most of her minor scatches and all she had left was the gash on her left arm, this was going to be tricky she thought. The wound was deep, and still lightly bleeding, not only that but it was high on her arm, she couldn't reach it all that well, espscailly not with her ribs in the condition they were in.

So she tried as best she could to reach it with the Hydrogen Peroxide, she slightly tipped the bottle so a small doseage would hit the wound, but a slight slip of the wrist and a shot of pain from Wanda's ribs caused her to spill the enitre bottle, all over her wound. It stung like a thousand knives. " Oh F#!" Wanda yelled out, dropping the bottle and instanting applying massive presure to her throbing wound, she hoped and prayed no one had heard that.

---

Rogue nodded, beaming at Remy, "Course, darlin." Rogue pulled the bag onto her lap, eyes moving onto Remy every five seconds as she searched through the bag for what she would use "That head wound needs treatin to first, iodine?" she pulled out a bottle, she smirked at him "It'll sting, bad"

Rogue shrugged, if it stung it meant it was doing something, knowing quite well he was in no condition to scramble away she set the bottle down and pushed the bag off of her lap "Now...how Ah'm ah gonna do this" she thought aloud, rubbing her hands together getting a strange satisfaction out of having the ability to help her Remy (though you'd never catch her calling him that, specially now that he was conscious) cautiously she slid her hands under his covered back (by the trench coat) and lifted his limp upper half closer to her, letting his head rest againts her lap again.

It seemed everyone else around her, their words or actions were just soundless to her as she gazed down on Remy, only thinking one thing 'Once Ah fix him up Ah can get back to the way things were...'

'...eeh...remotely anyways...' Rogue thought.

Remy bit his lip in pain as Rogue moved him onto her lap, once he was there though... let's just say he didn't mind.

"It'll sting." Rogue repeated, still smirking "Bad." She warned him, almost as if finding pleasure in the fact. Remy couldn't help but grin. He loved the girl's spunk, just another thing that had drawn him to her.  
"Remy'll live, jus' be gentle." He replied, giving her his trademark grin. All the while though he was bunching up the sleeves of this trenchcoat so that when he clenched his fists in pain, he would send his fingernails right through the skin, which he knew he would if he didn't have something between them.

John raised his arms over his head, trying to get a look at the bandages now wrapped around him.

"Not bad." He commented. John's head craned around to the bushes Wanda had disappeared behind.

He looked over at Kitty. "Better be glad she wanted to do it herself."

Kitty glanced toward the direction Wanda yelled her explicitive. She shook her head. "Be glad? I don't know. I just hope she's fine."

Kitty rubbed the back of her neck nervously. She didn't know what else to do, at this point. Maybe check on Wanda? She's not really sure if she SHOULD, considering what she just heard. Kitty took a few steps into that direction and made a fake-nervous-situation-interruption type cough, "Uh... hey uh... would you like a hand, Wanda? Just... y'know... wonderin'."

"Yeah." John agreed. "Lets go see if she is alright." He said as he laid his hands on Kitty's shoulders and nudged her along, hiding behind her as they walked around the bushes. 

Once the initial shock was over and the burning feeling that shot through her entire arm had died down, Wanda didn't feel quite as bad.

She took a deep breath to help relax her. She felt a bit better, considerig what a wreck her body was in.

Now for the tricky part, how to wrap a bandage with one hand? Life sucked Wanda thought as she looked up at the sky, it really did.

She began a failing atempt to wrap up her wound when all of a sudden she heard someone coming.

Kitty blinked and stammered, "Wha--?!" as she's pushed forward by John toward where Wanda is.

"Hey!" Is all she can really mutter out before they turned the corner and approached Wanda's area.

---

Rogue looked down on Remy, opening up the bottle with one hand, pushing stray strands of his dark hair with the other.

"Ah'll try" she replied, with a saucy smile, letting her hands go to work preparing to treat his wound as she took to spouting small talk to ease his troubles "You know, you'll never be in this position again" she smirked "So live it up Cajun"

"Once we get yeh fixed up good enough we'll take yeh back up to the mansion and to the infirmary--Logan can maybe give yeh a blood transfusion, since he can heal and then you'll be just fine--and as payment Ah want your jacket" as she spoke, keeping her green eyes locked on his she lifted up his head and brought the iodine damped cloth to his wound, continuing to flirt so subtly with the Cajun hoping it would distract him from the pain.

"Remy's jacket chere? Non, y'better step back now. He can' give dis away, it be a gift. He could alwyas lend it to ya dough." Remy replied lightly, smiling up at Rogue with the little bit of strength he had left.  
"As fo' Remy never bein' in dis posistion again..." Remy snuggled his head into her lap as best he could, but with the limited amount of strength he had... he wondered if she even felt it. "Remy was hopin' dis would be de first in many." He finished with a cocky grin. He knew what Rogue was doing though... try to distract him from the pain. That was okay, he appreciated it... though he didn't know if it was going to work, so he braced himself for the worse.

Logan heard his name a looked over. Rogue flirting with Gumbo? That was new, but not unexpected. He almost laughed when she asked for the jacket. The Cajun did look rather pale, almost sickly. Rogue was right, he would need a blood transfusion. Not wanting Char to feel left out he walked over to her.

"Doll, might want ta introduce yerself." Logan said to the glass weilding mutant.

Rogue stuck out her tongue playfully, pressing her luck with his good attitude by pushing the moist cloth againts his open wound gently.

"Maybe" she began, now feeling nausceous "Someone else should be doing this, someone who can be more careful" her voice broke a bit at 'careful' "Someone who doesn't have to worry about draining the very life outta yeh"

Rogue cleared her throat, looking away from him and pressing even harder against his wound she glanced at Logan, then to the girl, then back to Logan again "We've got to get him back to the Infirmary, there's litte we can do here" she said quickly, her voice light and brisk. Absentmindedly she stroked Remy's hair with her free hand and continued to massage the back of Remy's head with the cloth.

It had hit her, just how normal she was being. Just how careless she was being.

Fingerless gloves, bare arms, and torn clothing. And it didn't help she was a emotional wreck. How little it would take to just have an accident and touch Remy? Draining the life from his already limp body? She couldn't afford a slip up like that, still, thought Logan had said he would be 'just fine' she still felt like the man laying in her lap was in more critical condition that they would admit.

She cursed under her breathe, as--even though she had only spoke seconds ago--the silence that met her was infuriating.

Quickly she removed the cloth and moved Remy off of her lap, pulling her bag back onto her lap and searching around inside.

Rogue stuck her tongue out him playfully but then she finally put the cloth against Remy's head and his head began to sting so bad his eyes began to water. He quickly clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He couldn't think of anything else besides the pain now though and the fact that whatever it was hurting his head was pressing down harder against it didn't help.

Blinded by the pain he felt ready to attack whatever it was hurting him but something broke through his blindness... he felt soemthing else. Someone was stroking his hair, and not just anyone, but Rogue. So, despite the pain he wished she wouldn't stop and for a while she didn't.

Quickly, too quickly, she pulled the cloth away and Remy let out a soft, short wheeze of pain that he was greatful he didn't think anyone could hear. Before he could recover from the shock though his head was being lifted and moved and more pain seared through his body. His head felt like it was on fire, the room spun, and his vision blurred for a second.

When she finished moving his head he just laid there for a second, eyes closed, and breathing deeply as the worst of the pain began to diminish again.

She began to mutter, gibberish and what she read from the labels she flashed by "

She looked so funny trying to be the nurse... she just didn't seem the type to him. He appreciated it at the moment though and wasn't about to try and stop her. But tease her... Remy couldn't resist.

"Y'make such a great nurse." Remy said teasingly. "Now jus' get one o' dose tight lil' white dresses on an' Remy be Really happy." He winked at her.

Logan walked over to the two. "Stripes, you're right." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "He needs more help than what we can give." He sighed and turned to Remy. "I'm gonna take you to the Med Lab." He looked over at Rogue and Chartreuse. "Rogue, Char, get the others down there, too. I'll take Gumbo." Logan measured the distance from the gazebo to the mansion. He growled inaudibly. He had to carry him there, and the Cajun wasn't exactly light. He reached down, and surprisingly gently, pulled up the Acolyte's arm and pushed it over his shoulder. Thus getting him off of the ground.

---

To Be Continued...

Authors Notes:

-- Characters/Authors --

Casakitten: Rogue Eixid: St. John "Pyro" Allerdyce KiyoneKatz: Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde Sarah Crysala: Remy "Gambit" LeBeau Roguestar1: Wanda "Scarlet Witch" Maximoff The Gothic Kleptomaniac: Logan "Wolverine", Chartruese. 


End file.
